Teen Titans One-Shots

Heritage

Summary: The Brotherhood of Evil has captured Robin and plan to freeze him in front of all of the other Titans, but someone steps in and reveals a dark secret about the boy wonder.

.....

"Torture him!"

"Brainwash him!"

"Kill him!"

These quotes and others were shouted by the mass of villains below the platform that separated him and the leaders of the Brotherhood from the rest of the crooks glaring at him. Robin bit back the urge to shudder. He always knew he had a special spot at the top of their hate list, but to see it up close was unnerving at best.

Sorrowful, masked baby blues looked up at the rest of the Titans International. Each of them were in glass containments, all of them captured because of him.

If only I had seen through Rouge's facade, we wouldn't be in this mess, he thought.

His friends and teammates met his gaze with obvious worry and fear. He was their beacon of hope. If he went down, they would soon follow. They knew this, and the bad guys did too.

"Freeze him! Make him a trophy!" someone yelled, and the crowd lit up with shouts of agreement. The Brain, Mallah, and Rouge shared a look and nodded to each other.

"An excellent idea," the Brain droned and steered his mechanical gaze towards Mallah. The giant gorilla grabbed Robin by his shoulders and forcefully steered him towards the freezing chamber. He struggled the entire march there, but with his hands locked in thick metal bands, there was only so much he could do.

"You don't want to be doing that just yet," a stranger declared, his deceptively calm voice contrasting heavily with the rabble. Robin visibly stiffened. He knew that voice all too well.

The normally fearless boy wonder's reaction did not go unnoticed by the swarm of Jump City villains. Yes, they had fought him countless times; some even broke his bones at one point or another. But no one had ever seen that flicker of hesitation before, and that piqued their collective interest.

From the shadows emerged a man garbed in black and orange, his singular gray eye piercing anyone that dared meet his gaze. The crowd parted for him as the noise died down, and a silent, fearful respect took its place. Robin rolled his shoulders to ease the rising tension, his eyes never leaving those of the one he hated most.

"Slade."

"Robin," the other greeted back, his voice cool and coy as always, as he ascended the platform.

"To what do we owe ze pleasure, Deathstroke?" Rouge cooed, "Come to do ze honors yourself, hm?"

"On the contrary. I'm here to negotiate Robin's release."

Once again, the base was in an uproar. Slade held up a fist, instantly silencing the crowd. They knew the assassin was in a league of his own, one that rose above them in every aspect of authority and ruthlessness, as well as a line none of them were willing to cross.

     "Now, let's get back to business shall we? I don't want to keep my clients waiting."

    "Why should we hand him over to you?" Rouge demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, "He has been ze leading cause of trouble for us."

    "Perhaps," Slade mused, not denying the facts, "but that phase is ending as of today."

    "What makes you so certain, Deathstroke?" Brain droned.

   The hairs on the back of Robin's neck stood. He could tell Slade was smirking beneath that emotionless mask of his, and he knew he was going to hate the reason why.