Forgotten Bonds – Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve
Strategy of Infiltration

October 12th, 2008. Sunday, 1:00 pm.

‘Azarath, metrion, zinthos.’

Raven repeated the incantation in her mind as she meditated. Her heart rate was constant and peaceful. Her breathing was calm and controlled. Each line of the incantation was said slowly and carefully with exactness.

‘Azarath, metrion, zinthos.’

However, no matter how calm her body was currently, her mind would not calm down. Her thoughts raged at terrible speeds, flittering wildly throughout the cavities of her brain. No matter how much meditating she did in a day, she just could not bring her mind to stillness. It refused to be at peace.

But that’s how it had been all month long. It had been a month now since the day Starfire had made everyone realize that Robin had been taken away – and most likely by Slade. Raven would’ve never imagined being affected like this by another person’s disappearance from her life – but she was; all too much, in fact.

Had Robin truly affected her that much that she would be completely unable to control her mind and emotions at his disappearance? Was it because he had been the first to offer her the hand of friendship – something that she had never imagined that she would ever attain because of who and what she was?

Whatever was the reason, the fact remained that she was greatly affected by Robin’s disappearance and it wasn’t changing any time soon.

The other Titans, however, were beginning to accept the situation. It wasn’t as if they had accepted that he was gone, but they had moved on in the daily things of life. They had to if they wanted to continue to protect the city like Robin would’ve wanted them to. The initial issues that the others had once had at their friend’s kidnapping had slowly begun to get better.

Starfire was able to fly better now. She was returning back to her cheerful self and even attempted to bring the others up like she usually did. It was as if she were really making the effort to bring peace and happiness to everyone. She smiled more and was back to making more of those alien foods she loved so much. But Raven could sense the deep sorrow that the girl was burying inside her heart.

Beast Boy was somewhat back to his usual self, although he had his moments of stillness where he would gaze at nothing in particular in deep thought – something that amazed Raven to no end. He seemed to have aged over the month somewhat as if he really was trying to be more mature. Although he was once again returning to his usual self of repeating poor, yet at times, funny jokes.

The stress for Cyborg was leveling off. He worked harder than any of them to fill in the void that Robin’s disappearance caused. He was really rising up to the position of being the leader and even was giving more advice to each of them. He was almost acting like a older brother even. However, there were many times that Raven could see that he was completely frustrated with the whole situation.

Not that she blamed him – she was, too. They hadn’t received any word from Batman after they had contacted him. No word at all. She wished the man would, at least, give them an update; but she understood that he wasn’t the type to do so.

Nonetheless, she was completely irritated by the man. She still could remember trying her hardest to maintain control while speaking to him two weeks ago in that late night call. She had felt the man’s ire towards the fact that Robin had created Red X was completely unneeded at the time. She had surprised herself when she had outright lied to Batman, but she was thankful that the others hadn’t argued the fact. She just had been so annoyed that her control slipped and the lie left her lips before she could stop it.

With the man’s completely stern and unmoving nature, she had wondered briefly if the man had actually even cared about Robin. But when she had mentioned the possibilities of what Slade could be doing to him, she had seen it – briefly, but it had been there.

Worry.

Fear.

The man’s sharp eyes had flashed a subtle sign of fear and worry for Robin, before sliding back to their usual powerful appearance. It had been then that she understood his entire demeanor was the only thing that kept the man that strong.

Still, there was no word from the man; leaving the Titans to wonder if the Dark Knight of Gotham could even find their missing leader. The team had no game plan. They had no way of knowing where to search. Slade could be anywhere and it wasn’t as if he had to stay in the city. Slade could’ve very well spirited Robin to the other side of the world.

And that was an alarming thought.

With all the trouble Raven was having with her meditating, she found herself burying her emotions more than ever, so that her powers wouldn’t go out of control. But she was still having great difficulty. The other knew and understood her feelings on the matter, but she would never admit it out loud – merely saying that people come and people go.

But she truly did want to rescue Robin from the clutches of Slade. While there was always a possibility, she didn’t think Slade had killed Robin. Why go to the trouble with kidnapping him only to end up killing him? Slade just didn’t seem like the type to just torture people for fun and then kill them off, like some of the truly disturbing people that existed in the world.

Slade must’ve had a purpose for taking Robin away. But what was it? What was his plan? What could Slade possibly want with Robin?

There was one thing that was apparent to Raven – the fact that Robin hadn’t escaped yet. That posed two possibilities. Either he wouldn’t leave due to something that Slade held over him or he simply didn’t have the power to escape. While it was very probable that Slade had something over Robin – the man always did seem to be one step ahead of them in everything – Raven didn’t think that was the case right now. The truly frightening thought was that Robin just couldn’t get away from his captor. Either he was imprisoned or Slade was too powerful.

Raven figured both. She doubted that Slade had ever shown his true abilities to them. Obviously, since they had never actually fought face to face, seeing as he usually sent out his army of robots to do his dirty work instead. That night that Robin disappeared was probably the first time he ever showed up for anything. Raven could only assume that Slade had come to collect Robin himself since their leader could definitely handle any robots Slade threw at him.

But, after a month, there was still no sign of Slade or Robin.

Raven frowned at herself. Once again, she was thinking when she wasn’t supposed to be. She focused harder onto her meditating.

‘Azarath, metrion, zinthos.’

Was Robin okay? Was Slade hurting him, beating him, taunting him, torturing him? Would they ever get to see their friend again? How affected would he be from his kidnapping when—if they managed to rescue him? Would he be the same person? Or would a new darkness form inside his heart from the terrible experience?

Could Robin survive through this trial?

Raven gritted her teeth, forcing those thoughts back down. She had to focus. She had to focus!

‘Azarath, metrion, zinthos.’

‘Azarath, metrion, zin—’

The sound of shattering glass made Raven pop her eyes open. A strand of her black magic was staggering into nothing after shattering her long mirror at the end of her room. The glittering shards lay on the ground.

Raven sighed, setting her feet down on the floor as she pulled out of her levitation. She wasn’t going to get any more meditating done for the day; might as well do something else to take her mind off her raging thought process. She walked to her door and it slid open automatically. Her footsteps made no noise against the carpeted flooring as she walked towards the main room.

Maybe a little companionship would do her some good. She hoped there was just a little normalcy going on and no drama. She wasn’t sure if she could handle more drama at the moment; something else might explode.

The main door slid open at her arrival. Raven caught a glance at the TV, which was showing an episode of Starfire’s favorite program – something to do with the world of fungus. Starfire looked extremely enthralled with the program. Raven tried not to gag.

Yuck.

Beast Boy was slumped on the couch with one of his many handheld gaming devices in his hands. But his eyes were glazed over and he wasn’t exactly into his game at the moment. There was a blindingly red ‘game over’ sign flashing on the screen.

He was out of it.

Raven turned to look over at Cyborg, who was studying something at the main computer frame in the center of the room. He frowned for a minute and then mindlessly scratched the back of his neck, before finally rubbing his chin pensively. Raven narrowed her eyes.

Now he was up to something.

Raven wordlessly walked over to him, coming to his side quietly. He didn’t notice her as she stood beside him.

“Afternoon,” said Raven. Cyborg jumped visibly and looked at Raven; placing a hand over his metal chest as he heaved.

“Geez, Rae. You sure know how to sneak up on a guy,” gasped Cyborg.

“No, you were just deep in thought,” retorted Raven lightly. “What are you doing?”

Cyborg’s chest rose with his deep breath as he considered the question seriously. He turned towards the computer, a heavy light entering his human eye.

“You know how Slade hired some students from that criminal school – the H.I.V.E. Academy – awhile back? I was considering infiltrating the academy for some information on Slade,” said Cyborg in a low undertone; his human eye glancing over at the other two on the couch. Raven’s eyebrow rose slightly in surprise.

“That’s a big ambition,” commented Raven. “A dangerous one as well.”

“You know, I think I understand why Robin made Red X. We as heroes just don’t get the same information that villains can get,” said Cyborg. “I’m really thinking about doing it.” He frowned and added grudgingly, “Especially since I doubt we’ll get any information from Batman any time soon.”

“I agree with you on that. Will you make the same mistake that Robin made?” asked Raven. Cyborg shook his head with a small smile.

“Of course not. I’ll need everyone’s help.”

“Good. Do you think it’ll work? Have you thought it all out?” asked Raven.

“Trying to, at least,” said Cyborg with a sigh. He motioned a hand towards Beast Boy. “He’s not going to be much help in thinking up a strategy, but I plan on bringing him with me as a partner. As a fly, he can go undetected.”

“Or get squished,” commented Raven with a dry lilt in her voice. “You might want to consider some safety measures for him. If he’s detected and has to transform, you jeopardize both his and your own safety.”

Cyborg nodded solemnly.

“I was thinking about that, too. I might make a container for him to be in that can’t be scannable, but that he can break out of in a transformation if the mission is compromised.”

Cyborg turned back to the computer and began pulling up a number of scenarios. Raven pulled up a chair and sat down next to him to get a closer look. Raven noticed that the H.I.V.E. logo was flashing at a location on the screen.

“When did you discover the location?” asked Raven, trying not to sound impressed. Cyborg didn’t look at her, but his mouth lifted into a smirk.

“Last time when Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx tried to pull a robbery. I landed a tracking device on Gizmo. Little pint sized punk still doesn’t know what hit him.”

Raven withheld a smile. Controlling her feelings was getting harder and harder lately. Her flat nature was beginning to fluctuate at the smallest things. She found herself wanting to smile more at simple things. Her anger also wanted to flare out more often as well. It was so strange – she desperately needed her meditation time to succeed. The more she felt, the more her power could get out of control – thus, the more she endangered her own friends. She took a deep calming breath as she continued to watch Cyborg as he began to show her a few scenarios.

The plans themselves were relatively simple. Cyborg would go into the academy and pose as a student. Beast Boy would go as a backup, while Raven and Starfire remain on standby in a nearby hotel in case of an emergency.

The hope was that Cyborg would be able to gain information from students who had received a contract from Slade. It was a dangerous mission, but they were willing to do anything for just a small piece of information that might lead them closer to rescuing Robin from his situation.

Anything to bring their leader and friend back home.

“What do you think?” asked Cyborg. Raven could see and feel the insecurity Cyborg was feeling about being the temporary leader of the team. She knew he needed help a lot of the time and it was almost as if she had begun to fill in the position of being an adviser to him.

“You’ve thought it all out,” said Raven. “I think that there is always a possibility that a plan will fail, but we can’t succeed nor fail if we don’t try.”

Cyborg smiled.

“All right, then!” cried Cyborg, excited. He alerted the other two with his exclamation and they turned their gazes over to them. Starfire shut the TV off as she looked over at them. Beast Boy looked up from his video game.

“Did something good just happen?” asked Beast Boy, as if it were possible, but he was afraid that it would be fake.

“Well, it’s a step in the right direction,” grinned Cyborg proudly. “We’re gonna infiltrate the H.I.V.E. Academy for some information on Slade. And you, BB—” Cyborg pointed at Beast Boy. “—are gonna be my partner.”

Beast Boy’s eyes lit up as he tossed his game device to the side onto the couch; bolting to his feet as he stared at his friend with wide eyes.

“Se–seriously? You’re not joking, right? This isn’t a joke, right?”

“Nope, not a joke. You’re gonna help.”

“Yahoo!” whooped Beast Boy, jumping excitedly into the air. “Go, Beast Boy! Oh, yeah! Who’s your partner? That’s right – Beast Boy!”

Raven turned her head away and tried to hold back the combined eye roll and smirk that were tempting her face. Meditation was greatly needed – extremely needed, especially if she wanted to smile at something Beast Boy was doing.

“Glorious! Is there something that I can assist in?” asked Starfire with a happy smile of her own.

“You and Raven will be our backup in case of an emergency,” said Cyborg, grinning at the bouncing green boy who was still celebrating in his happy dance. Starfire nodded determinedly.

“All right, everyone gather around. Here’s the plan.”

ooOOOOOoo

October 12th, 2008. Sunday, 9:20 pm.

Bruce Wayne leaned his head against the back of his chair, staring up at the ceiling; his thoughts shuffling through the information he had gone over for the thousandth time that week. No matter how many times he went through the data that the Teen Titans had sent him, he just couldn’t understand the man’s motives. It had taken him a full week to uncover the fact that this same Slade that had kidnapped Dick was also the world’s most deadliest mercenary, assassin; Deathstroke the Terminator.

Bruce had heard the stories revolving around the man. He was an expert in his profession. He never failed at his targets and he generally contracted with high profile citizens like CEOs, politicians, or the extremely wealthy. Most of the man’s hits were within the mafia community, which also meant that Slade had dangerous enemies. There were also times when the man did other work, like security checks or even rescues of kidnapped children of high profile families. It seemed whoever paid well enough could contract Deathstroke.

But why did he want Robin?

Bruce had no doubt that Slade knew Robin’s identity as Richard Grayson by now, if not before he kidnapped him. If Dick was in his hands, there was nothing to stop the man from finding out. Dick was strong, but he was just a kid. There was only so much torture he could handle before breaking down.

Bruce’s mouth went dry at that thought. He took a deep cleansing breath. No matter the information, he couldn’t find anything that looked like a glimmer of a lead. It was like Slade had taken Dick and disappeared from the face of the planet.

The very moment after Bruce cut the communication off with the Teen Titans, he had gotten into a jet and flown to Jump City as fast as was possible. He had spent three days in Jump City, searching for any clues – while avoiding bringing attention to himself. He didn’t need those children tagging along. Their little plan was the very reason that had brought attention to Robin in the first place.

Bruce had wanted to stay longer, but it was obvious that he wasn’t going to find any traces; plus the fact, he couldn’t stay away from Gotham that long without his own city becoming overrun with crime.

He still had a duty to the innocent citizens of Gotham City.

So, every day he was weighed down with a deep, agonizing anxiety in the pit of his stomach. Nothing could relieve him of it. The unknown of what could be happening to Dick was enough to eat away at his insides.

He had tried to protect the boy, but Dick was a strong willed kid. He was going to do things his own way and there was no way Bruce could stop him. It wasn’t like he was the boy’s father. He might’ve taken him in, but there was no replacing John Grayson.

Besides, he wasn’t father material.

He did keep track of Dick’s movements at times – for safety reasons. Usually, he checked up on him every two weeks or so. Dick didn’t know, but Bruce had hacked into their security system – with relative ease, now that he thought about it. He should’ve said something. If he had, maybe Dick wouldn’t have been kidnapped by that assassin.

If he had done a lot of things differently, then maybe Dick would still be in Gotham at his side as his partner – safe; completely healthy and safe.

But each had made their own choices and thus, this was the outcome. There was no lamenting of the past – Bruce would only look to the future. He had to figure out the man’s motives. If he could, then maybe he could find out the location where he was keeping Dick.

Bruce swiped a hand over his face. The feeling that was rising up in his chest was one he rarely, if ever, felt. It was a terrible feeling of helplessness. He was completely helpless in finding Dick. There was no trace – the man knew exactly what he was doing. It was like a waiting game, hoping that the man would do something to show off that he held the Boy Wonder in his hands.

But that was the thing.

Bruce would’ve assumed that Deathstroke would show off the fact that he held Batman’s old protégé in his hands. Every other villain would have. What was Deathstroke’s motives that he would steal away Dick without another word to the world? The man did not seem like the type just to pick him up for torture or other nefarious things.

No, Deathstroke was a man of purpose. His track record proved that much. So, what, exactly, was his purpose in gaining Robin or Dick?

What did he hope to gain?

Bruce ran through a number of things and landed on a few. This could be something to do with Batman. Deathstroke could very well be trying to rile him up. But he had been in Jump City for three days. If Slade really had wanted to lure Batman out, then why hadn’t he shown up?

No, Slade probably didn’t want anything to do with Batman. Did he want Bruce Wayne? But if he was looking for a ransom, wouldn’t have Bruce received a note by now? A month had already passed by.

So… This didn’t have anything to do with him, but with Robin or Dick.

Dick was very skilled in everything that he did. Bruce had seen it inside of the kid as he trained him. He was highly intelligent and greatly advanced in his studies. Last time Bruce checked, Dick had graduated from high school already. The boy was also very nimble in his fighting techniques and knew quite a few martial art techniques. He was strong, determined, and could decipher things very well.

Had Deathstroke, perhaps, been drawn to his abilities?

Bruce sat up in his chair better, his eyes narrowing in the darkness.

Was that it? Had the man taken Robin because he admired his skills? What if…

An apprentice.

That was it. The dawning realization flooded through Bruce’s mind, the confusing pieces falling into place; bringing everything to a whole new light. Slade had taken Robin because he wanted his skills and abilities. All those things that he had sent the Teen Titans’ way – they had been tests. Most of the plans had been subpar with the man’s intelligence. So, he had been testing Robin?

That would mean…

Bruce’s blood chilled.

If that was Deathstroke’s plan; if that was what Slade wanted from Dick, then that would mean he would train the boy – obviously; that’s what being an apprentice meant. Slade would teach him everything he knew. The man was a mercenary, an assassin – it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he’d teach Dick.

He’d teach him how to kill.

ooOOOOOoo

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