The Sixth Titan | Teen Titans

Chapter Thirteen - Apprentice, Part Two

    I hope the season finale is good, please let me know. Also, trigger warning--this chapter contains mild - moderate levels of abuse.

    I open my eyes and wrap my fingers around my wrist warily. I can't feel my restraints, and when I look down, they're not there. My eyes struggle to adjust to the lighting, and I rub them in order to see clearer. In front of me are four pillars, with Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy tied to each one. I look around to find the fifth and final other Titan, but Robin is nowhere to be found.

    Soon, however, I see him. He stands behind Slade, and they walk over to the lot of us. Several thoughts run through my mind at once, and I try to grasp at least one in order to make sense of it all. Why aren't I tied up? Why is Robin with Slade? What's going on?

    I look at Robin's figure, and as he steps into clearer view I get a glimpse of his outfit. It's what I last remember him wearing — Slade's uniform, specifically designed for him. Even his mask is different. The one thing that stays true to him is his hair, as I spot it, still perfect, as it gently blows in the breeze.

    "What's going on?" I mutter, rubbing my forehead.

    Slade hears me and walks over. "Good, you're awake."

    "What's going on?" When I get no answer, I look at Robin. "Robin, what's going on?" My voice is urgent and warning, but he only stares at me blankly, as if possessed.

    "Your friend here has finally succumbed to my apprenticeship," Slade says. "Now that he's loyal to me, you and your friends are a liability." He walks over to me and tilts my chin up, forcing me to meet his eye. "Unless, of course, you wish to accept my offer from the day the apprenticeship began?"

    I remember the day clearly, as if it were mere hours ago. Slade proposed that after he was done with Robin, I would become his next apprentice. I survey the man in front of me, then gather up some saliva and spit it in his face. "I would rather die."

    "So be it," he says, his voice so commanding that it sends a chill down my spine. "And I shall see to it that you watch your friends take their last breaths first. Robin?"

    Slade hands him the button, and he's about to press it when I open my mouth. "Robin, please, don't!" The taste of my tears is bitter from sadness. "Robin!" The others cry too, but he doesn't listen to any of us. I watch the button get pressed and turn to my friends, who are now shrieking in fear. I turn back to Robin one last time, and his face is stone cold. He shows no emotion. He has become the exact thing he swore he wouldn't become.

    He has become Slade's apprentice.

~~~

I jolt awake, only to hit myself with my own restraints. A hiss of pain leaves my lips, filling the otherwise silent room, and I immediately remember where I am.

From where I sit, I can see a screen, and a man watching it eagerly. Slade. The boy on the screen is also instantly recognisable, his dark hair and signature mask making him hard to miss. Robin.

    He jumps in through the roof and throws an explosive device with an S imprinted on it at the canister holding his target. Instantly, an alarm blares. "He's got the Thermal Blaster!" One of the guards shout, and several more follow.

    "Stop him!" Robin takes no notice of the guard's orders and hastily exits. His figure runs around the edge of the tower and out of sight.

    "Where'd he go?" The guard asks, and Robin is revealed to be hanging upside down on the roof, like a bat. He jumps down, and is instantly surrounded by none other than his former teammates.