New A Darker Path AU fic: Fractured Lines
Oct. 10th, 2006 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylph_ficsAll previous parts of the "A Darker Path"-verse can be found here. It was getting to be kind of a long list.
Here's the newest part.
Title: Fractured Lines
Characters: Wilson clan
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Some profanity.
Disclaimer: I wish these guys were mine, they'd be treated better than DC does. But they're not, DC still owns them.
Summary: Just when things looked like they might start going back to "normal"...
Notes:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly wrote Dinah, Slade, and Rose. Roy and Dick are, as usual, my problem children.
12:45 am
//...I really, really need to talk to you, I know you're home, where are you?// Dick grumbled mentally as he hunted through the house for his lover and master. Both of his lovers, actually, but Slade currently had priority...
The man in question came around the corner, moving cat quiet from habit, and his eye searching. When it landed on Dick, there was no question that he was not pleased.
There could be any number of reasons for that, and Dick was on a mission of his own. "Canary told me something you need to know."
"It can wait." The cold dismissal of his words was not a good omen.
Dick went very, very still, watching Slade's face. "What's going on?" //What the fuck?//
"What gives you the leeway to withhold information from a mission debrief? Do you think your status gives you that?" His voice was full of anger at Dick.
Dick went chalk-white, mind flashing through. //What-how-ROY!// "It covered everything important." He'd only managed the careful obfuscations because Slade hadn't pushed... And he wasn't touching that 'status' question. Not a chance.
Slade could still move faster than Dick could track at times. This was one of them, as the heavy hand landed in a stunning backhand. "I told you not to ever do that again. Didn't I?"
Blood pooled in his mouth, tears in his eyes and white light streaked across his vision as pain stole his breath, knocked back against the wall. He swallowed the blood and tried to breathe, shaken... and there was--unfortunately--only one answer. "Yes, sir."
"So, your next reply is everything you left out, yes?" His voice slid over the words with an icy menace. He began walking, hands behind his back, toward his office, assured Dick would follow properly.
Dick closed his eyes, then heeled Slade, swallowing blood again before he started talking. Roy'd already---and what the HELL was up with that?!--told Slade gods knew what, so it was time to get thorough, sticking as close to purely the facts as he could. His jaw ached, but his speech came out clearly.
Slade settled in his chair behind his desk, flicking an eye over the monitors. One was trained on Lian, making sure the baby of the household was safe. Another was following Dinah's wandering of his house //Getting braver in your gilded cage, Canary?//, while the rest showed varying scenes of the house. A casual play over the controls, and he insured that the infirmary would not come up for view. "You do understand your mistake now, Kid?" he asked once Dick finished, his voice and face much calmer now.
Dick's eyes flashed with something unidentifiable, but his expression never changed--he had that much control... yet there was acid in his answer despite every attempt to cover it, despite the reaction he knew it was going to get the moment he heard the tone of his voice. "Yes, sir. I get it. You want to know everything." //Just like someone else I know.//
Slade's hand tensed on the controls to the security cameras, his eye boring into Dick. His full-fledged temper snapped into place, and he thought about beating the boy for his impertinence. Then the eye narrowed, and Slade spoke in dead calm tones. "When you wear my colors, I will know everything, Dick Grayson." He then indicated the door. "Report to the infirmary. Harper's waiting for you. By his own choice." He reversed his earlier decision to keep them separate. "Seems he'll follow you into hell itself." He turned back to the business on his desk then.
"You. Fucking. didn't." Never in all of the years Slade had known Dick had he ever heard that tone from the boy's mouth. No one ever had. It was Batman's voice with a killer's edge, black ice and the howling of a midnight sandstorm. It was Renegade's voice in the full grip of a killing rage--and it was turned with lethal intent on his own master for his lover's sake.
Slade stood, coming from around the desk to stand right in front of his perfect heir, the one man on the face of the planet that fit Slade perfectly. "I did not offer. I did not, a single time, hint that it could be his." He reached up--and Renegade ducked back, the rage in his voice blazing in his eyes. Slade cocked his head to one side, and gave the boy a penetrating look. His voice did not hold warmth when he spoke. "When he asked, to protect you from his slower reactions, who was I to deny him?"
Agony slashed through the rage in those eyes for a moment--just a moment--and he took a single hard breath, rage stiffening his spine and wrecking all of his control. "The same man that played my lover's fears and issues to put him back on a killing field, Slade, despite knowing exactly what the first time did to him. The same man that left me no choice but to let the best thing that ever happened to me turn himself into a killer again to watch my back." //The same man who's daughter used to have two eyes,// sat hard behind his lips, barely restrained. "You knew I didn't want him out there. You knew I wanted him safe--and it didn't matter when someone as good as he is made the offer, did it?"
"Question, Kid." Slade refused to let it go to the physical, even as he had to rein his temper in. "What did Dinah see that made her seek you out? What made her risk her neck at your hands, and then ask yourself if you think he would have been safe without every advantage we can give him?"
His shoulders and thighs locked up--//Luthor's not Luthor. We're being played, and we don't know the stakes...// "Oh, you," and the rest of it was in Romany, rolling, bitter savagery in his voice as he swore at him. "She doesn't think Luthor's Luthor. He didn't react right. He didn't know enough. Hope and Mercy weren't there. You're being played and don't even know it, is what she saw." Not how he'd originally intended to put that.
Slade's fists clenched at his side, but he had a focus outside of Dick now. "You need to go to Harper, wait with him." Slade had things to do, and could not spend time mollifying his boy. "For what it's worth, he stands as good a chance as you did of no side effects." There, he had managed to keep his anger out of his voice long enough to offer that much.
"We'd all better hope so," Dick replied, managing to force himself into motion. This fight wasn't near through, but there was someone a hell of a lot more important for him to see to. He nudged the door open and slid out of it, not daring to touch it again, and headed straight for the infirmary. //Roy, WHY?!//
*~*~*~
Rose was on the landing when Dick slid out of the room, every fiber vibrating with his anger. She had been in her room, but her nerves had begun to prickle, until a full precog sensation was itching, just at the back of her mind. Now, she felt as if she knew what it likely was, as she worried for her new home, her family. She had truly felt that life could be good, that she could finally belong and be happy among people that would not see her as a freak.
And now that was threatened, if Dick and her father were arguing. She could see no other reason for Dick to be leaving Daddy's office in a rage, except that they had argued. She descended the stairs, and reached the office just as her father was exiting.
"Daddy," she began, reaching out to him.
"I have things to do, Rose," he said, brusquely and without touching the hand she held out. His emotions were locked from his face, but she could read his body, read carefully into what he was not saying. The mere fact he called her by name, had pleaded business first spoke volumes.
"Then let me help you, Daddy." She stood up tall and slim, her face showing her eagerness to please. "I'm not delicate; I know you have been shielding me from what the League did, what Light was raving about when we extracted him from the Titans. This whole Society thing revolves on that, doesn't it Daddy?" She kept talking, showing her ability to pay attention, to piece it together. "You got confirmation from the Canary. That's why she was so upset the other night."
Slade looked down at this youngest child of his, the product of an affair spanning several years, a hidden blessing from an old friend now gone. Slowly, he nodded, and then put his hand on her shoulder, drawing her close. For a long moment, he just held her in a loose hug, letting her squeeze his waist.
"Come in the office, Kitten, and we'll talk." His voice was gentle now, as he recognized the fact he had made a mistake, one of several in fact. What had been said to Dick had been thrown out as much for Dick not following the rules, as for the fact that he knew things were amiss. There had been far too many things in too short a time, rearranging the way his world worked. Some of them, like Dick and the other additions, had come because he chose them. Others, like feeling the others in his echelon of the Society had other, too-well hidden agendas, were gnawing on his need to control the game from his version of the rules.
Learning the full details of the League's perfidy, and Light's culpability in matters, had done little to ease the growing sense of danger. He needed to watch Dinah's conversation with Dick, rather than track her down, as he had intended. She likely would have provoked more anger, considering their dealings before going to Kahndaq.
He settled into his chair, as Rose perched on the desk in front of him, as he started explaining everything, bringing her up to date. He kept it cut and dry, but as he progressed, he started seeing small nuances he had missed, pieces that at the time had not fit the puzzle. Eventually, father and daughter were sharing the executive chair, drawing out organizational charts to see what each event had affected.
They had a list of obvious and suspected motives listed for each member at the uppermost level, when the words of 'Luthor's not Luthor' rang back through his mind, and caused Slade to check the security feed for Dick and Dinah's conversation. He sat back in the chair, studying the visual and verbal clues Dinah offered, while Rose all but curled in his lap, resting the unseeing side of her face against his shoulder.
"She could be useful, using her as the blind mole, that way," Rose commented, as they watched.
"Hmm." His non-committal tone in that murmur made her press her cheek to his.
"Blondie bother you? I can always dispose of her as quietly as possible, refocus Lian on myself," Rose purred. "She's cool, but you come first, and she makes you twitch."
"No profit in killing her yet." Slade stroked her hair. "She and I had words. Concerning sons." Rose's breath caught; she hated Joey with a passion, blaming him for the intentional overdose that had robbed her of her sanity, but she never breathed a word of it. Not even when her father was missing Wintergreen would she say one bad word about her brother.
"She will not get another chance," Rose growled. "And she will be made aware of that." Her fierce protection of him drew a smile to his lips. "What about Dick, Daddy? What happened?"
"A disagreement on professional and personal matters." Only Rose could hear the faint twinge of regret, and only because she knew the man fairly well, having studied him from the minute he had taken her into his life. She knew if his nerves had been flicked on the Joey subject that Dick had walked into a powder keg to begin with. She would have to find a way to slip that knowledge his way, to help smooth matters over…maybe Roy would see the logic in keeping Dick and Slade on good terms and help her there. After all, it was not like the men could just pick up and leave…they'd have both Ravager and Terminator hunting them for the rest of their short lives, if they got out at all.
She shifted, wrapping her arms around his neck, then smiled as she started to stand. "Daddy, I'll handle things. Don't worry so much."
He nodded, feeling more relaxed than he had in a few days. "Kitten…I just had the Canary's wing fixed…don't break it or anything else too noticeable."
Rose flashed her brilliantly insane look, and practically danced to the door. "Oh Daddy, I'll be discreet this time."
`~`~`~`~`
Rose slipped down the hall, homing in on where Dinah was. It was quite late, but the vigilante had last been in the…ahh yes, still in the kitchen, listening to the radio and washing the dishes she had used for her late snack. Rose moved in, eye narrowed as she prepared to give Dinah a firm warning where her father was considered.
"I've already walked the road of intimidation with your father," Dinah began, not even turning. "And I've been expecting you all evening."
Rose had to pause; she knew she had not made a noise, had not done anything that should have triggered a warning. She started to ask her teacher a question, momentarily forgetting her anger.
"Air pressure. When you live in close quarters on a regular basis with Batman or one of his, or a speedster, you learn to feel the movement of air." Now she did turn, her face serious. "Tell me your grief with me, but use logic, not emotion. If I am supposed to teach you, I might as well teach you from my mistakes."
Rose had to regroup. This reaction was not what she expected, and then she had to look and be sure it was just Black Canary. The woman before her was not particularly renowned for her brains, or for letting logic overrule her heart.
"You made Daddy angry. Hit him with something you had to know was off limits." At Dinah's nod, Rose cocked her head to one side. "Are you suicidal?"
The blonde actually laughed, a low sound that was one part rueful, one part bitter. "No, Rose. I spoke without thinking, something I hope I can keep from being a habit of yours and Lian's. It brings way too much grief." She sighed, her face troubled and betraying her emotions of loss and fear. "I apologized, the instant it was out there."
"Don't do it again, Dinah. I really think Lian's pretty fond of you, and that might get bad if you hurt him again." Rose turned away to go, feeling her warning was served, leaving Dinah to her thoughts again.
~`~`~`~`~
2 am EST
Slade had continued to work, one monitor tuned to the infirmary, on the off chance Dick needed help with Roy. His anger with the boy had largely dissipated, but he could see it was by no means over with Dick. The issues raised would haunt them for days, if not longer. Right now, Slade was too busy looking over the contracts proposed to him by the Society, specifically Luthor, to find common threads.
He had begun to notice that the kidnappings centered on energy channelers…both hero and villain…who could grasp and control large amounts of energy from outside sources. That was a suspicious enough pattern, and he began to look into disappearances he knew of. This search, however, came to a screeching halt as a news alert crawled over his browser. Other pursuits aside, he had to learn how much this affected his plans, and who might have done it.
"Black Canary," he said, flicking on the intercom to her room. The sleeping woman roused to her costumed name, slowly, and looked around, blinking. Slade would have been amused at another time, but right now, he had business. "Come to my office."
"Give me a minute, Slade…" He turned his attention back to the news, away from the sight of her standing to stretch, flicking the infirmary monitor off. She was knocking on the door three minutes later, a loose robe thrown on over her tee shirt and shorts. When he called her in, he beckoned for her to come to his side of the desk, watching her reaction as she read the news.
Dinah felt her breath catch in her throat, as the blood drained from her face. She had to rest her hand on Slade's shoulder, to keep from passing out as she read the news of the explosion concerning the satellite the League used as their Watch Tower. She scanned over the calendar at hand, trying to recall rosters, muttering under her breath. It convinced Slade that this had not been an odd ploy of the heroes, to go to ground, as he heard the names she whispered, trying to figure out who had been on duty.
"With the funeral services today, I doubt they had more than skeleton crews," he told her impassively, to see what else he could learn while she was in shock.
"Middle of night…volunteer duty probably," she said, tears springing to her eyes. "It would have been J'onn or Br…Batman," she whispered, pulling away from him, from the computer, and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Don't fall to pieces on me now, sister," Slade growled. "I need hero reactions, pronto, so I can handle this."
Her eyes snapped to his face, and she started to retort, until she read the knowledge there. "This is not something you knew was going to happen," she whispered.
"And it smacks of someone accelerating a plan that has been hidden for some time," Slade agreed. "So this is where you choose. The hidden devil or the one you know?"
She took a deep breath, knowing the third choice, to walk out and be a marked target was already out. "Your game, Slade…but I don't kill."
"We'll see."
~`~`~`~`~
5:25 am, EST
//Nnnh... oh, god, my head...// Roy winced, went to lift his hand to his still-closed eyes, and panicked when he couldn't move, struggling against what felt like steel--
"Roy, Roy stop!" snapped over his ears and he went still, relaxing at the sound of Dick's voice--if Dick was right there, it had to be okay... Then, memory crashed through him like a flood tide, sharper and clearer than his usual recall--bite of the needle, 'this is what I have to be', Slade's hands on his arm, talking to Slade, laying it all out... //I'm okay. Oh, thank you gods, I'm okay... Guess I ought to open my eyes, huh?//
He wasn't, really, sure that was a good idea, but from the tone of Dick's voice, he'd better... //Wha? --oh, yeah... He is pissed. Wow.// The speed he was processing things at was going to take some getting used to--his subconscious was running way ahead of his conscious thought. He slowly opened one eye, wincing at the light, then the other--and when he actually located Dick, ice water lanced down his spine. Dick was sporting a bruise that matched the one fading across his cheek--barring the larger size //Slade backhanded him, shit...//--and the expression on his face... //Oh, fuck...// That iced-over fury was getting way, way too familiar. "Dick..."
"You scared the fuck out of me, you son of a bitch." Any conversation that started with Dick swearing at him was so not going to go well.
"Dick, I didn't--"
"Didn't think? No sh--"
It took real effort to interrupt that blazing rage, but damn it, Dick. "No, damn it. I didn't mean to worry you--but I had to do thi--" //I had to, Dick. I can't be the reason you get hurt.//
"No, you fucking didn't! I know things were fucked up, but we could have fixed it!"
"Bullshit, Dick, and you know it!"
"No, I don't. We could. have. fixed. it."
"No, Dick, we couldn't have... not without handicapping you, and that might as well be a death sentence. Look, get me out of these damned things." Dick glared at him--not that that was anything new--and stalked over, unlocking the restraints with savage twists of his wrist, ankles first //smart, just in case...//--and the minute he had a hand free, it shot out and wrapped around Dick's upper arm as he unfastened the other wrist. "Now, listen to me, damnit!"
"Fine. Talk," Dick snapped, blue eyes locked onto his like targeting lasers.
"We nearly fucked up a hit we could have done in our sleep even two months ago, because I can't--I couldn't--keep up with what was in your head, and you can no more slow that down than you can stop breathing. It's the same reason Wa--Fleetfeet and I make a crap team, Dick, and you know it."
"It's not the same thing, Roy!"
"Yes, it is, Dick. It's the exact same thing, and I refuse to be the reason something happens to you!"
"Then why go with me, Roy?"
The confusion and baffled rage in that question did nothing to keep the words from slamming into his chest like a knife plunged heart-deep, and he had no idea what was blazed across his face as he sucked a breath. //How can you not get it, Dick?!// "Did you not listen to a damned word I've said over the last day?! I'm not going to let him get you hurt, or be the cause of it!" //I can't.//
"I... jesus, Roy. What the fuck did my manipulative bastard of a lover say to you, to push you to this?"
"Nothing I didn't need to hear." Which was true. Slade's... visit had snapped him out of the numb state he'd been in, as close to his 'normal' self as could be expected... and he'd needed it. He'd been leaning on Dick too hard, probably out of the shock--and it was damned well time Dick remembered they were partners.
"Roy..." dark warning in that tone, along with the anger.
Fine. Dick wanted to play it this way? Fine. "Basically? If I was going to be nothing but your"bought and paid for "toy and Lian's daddy, or if I was going to keep being someone."
Dick's blue eyes flared hot and his hand clenched, "Oh, that son of a--"
"Dick, knock it off. He was right." //Slade's going to kill me. He's absolutely going to kill me, for putting this between them.//
"No, he wasn't!"
"How can you--what the fuck, Dick?"
"I told you I'd calm down, I didn't say I was over it! The last fucking thing I wanted was you in the middle of this side of things, you're better--"
His other hand snapped up, plastered over Dick's lips before the rest of that sentence could come out of his mouth. "Don't go there, Dick. I'm not, and if you'd listen to your brain and not whatever the hell overprotective impulses are riding you, you, you'd know it. I'm a"hero "fighter, it's who I am, has been since the day Brave Bow sent me with Ollie--did you really think I'd ever be okay with knowing you were out there in danger and I couldn't be with you?!"
Dick bit at his fingers, and snapped once he moved his hand, "I didn't think that far ahead, I was a little busy trying to figure out how the hell to keep you alive!"
"So get that far, and fast, Dick. You know me better than anyone on this planet, so get your brain in gear and ask yourself if there was ever a chance I wasn't going to stay at your back."
Dick stared at him, caught between the tide of his rage and Roy's frustrated logic, //God damn it, I-- Shit. Pay attention to what he's really saying, before you make this worse.// "I..." He shook his head, unable to argue with that. He did know better.
"And by the way, Dick..." Oh, Roy was well and truly steamed at him, to be using that tone. "Much as I appreciate you protecting my daughter... stop trying to protect me--Dinah didn't take it from Ollie, and I'm not taking it from you. You. Know. Better, everyone you've ever been with would have kicked your ass for that kind of bullshit, why do you think I won't?"
//That's not the--I wasn't-- Aw, fuck. I was.// He felt his eyes drop, letting himself react that much, as he stopped long enough to really think about how he'd been acting, and how it could have appeared... and yeah. Grade-A overprotective jackass. "Roy... shit. I... didn't mean to come off like that. I... just didn't want you to follow me into this. More blood on my hands is nothing, but..."
"Dick... I get that. I promise--and thank you... but I can handle my own sins, all right? I don't need an intercessor, or for you to stand between me and the rest of the world."
"You wouldn't be in this if I hadn't--"
"Dick, if you 'hadn't', I'd be dead, and Chesh would probably have my daughter," frank acceptance of the fact that nothing but what Dick had done had kept him alive. "And thanks all the same, but I'm not ready to die yet. I... don't know how this is going to end, hell, I don't even come close to having all of the pieces of this puzzle--and yes, that scares me--but I can't do nothing. Not now, not ever. You got that, yet?"
Dick's lips set hard, staring at him, then slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, Roy... I got that--but how could you take this kind of a chance?"
Roy snorted. "That's rich, coming from you."
Dick shook his head. "Slade didn't give me much of a choice. Yes or no, in or out, choose right now... Not like I could say no."
//Yes you could have,// sat on the tip of his tongue, but he choked it back. No... Dick couldn't have. Not when leaving Slade's household and protection would paint a target on his back for the Bat--and there was no doubt in Dick's mind, at least, that that was exactly what would have happened. Roy wasn't so sure that Bruce wouldn't have taken it better than Dick thought, but he'd been there for a nightmare or three of Dick's right after the son of a bitch had sent him into Blackgate--Dick would die before he'd allow himself to ever be caged like that again, and that was coloring every choice his lover made. He knew it... and it made too damned much sense for his high-flying partner and best friend. He understood, after all, he had a streak of that same defiant fear himself... So he just nodded, and let go of Dick's arm to stroke down to his hand, wincing at the bruise he'd unintentionally left behind. "Guess not. Sorry..." eyes indicating the bruise.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing... still, Roy--"
"You came through it fine. Rose... well, you told me what happened to her... and Slade figured I'd come through fine. Something about my stubborn streak, apparently. It was worth it, Dick... and besides, won't it be nice not to have to be so damned careful?"
That shocked a laugh out of his lover, blue eyes finally starting to lose their angry cast, and the tone was rueful when he finally spoke. "Yeah... it will. Just... tell me again that this was your choice."
"My choice, Dick. Mine alone," green eyes looked into blue with nothing but honesty... and slowly, Roy watched his lover's expression settle down, relaxing into nothing but Dick Grayson, Renegade's volatile temper back under control.
"Okay. God, I owe Slade an apology..."
"What did you do?"
"Oh. Not much... just got into a hell of a fight with him, and really didn't take this news well, on top of everything else... Oh, yeah, thanks ever so for ratting me out, I was going to figure out how to fix--"
"No, you weren't; sorry I got you in trouble; and my way was faster. And worked better. We've got this, now."
"Yeah... we probably do. Damn, we are going to be one hell of a team, now..."
"Always were, Dick. Just an extra edge, now."
"Yeah. That's what I meant," Dick nodded, and leaned in, hand sliding over his shoulder... and Roy just kissed him back, hand sliding up to his hair. //I'm okay, Dick. I promise. I'm right here,// he said with the touch, and felt tensed muscles slowly relax under his hands.
Dick pulled away eventually, a yawn cracking his jaw. "God, I am gonna crash so hard..."
"Why?"
"I've been up almost 24 hours and running on pure damned adrenaline for the last five, Roy, between Slade and you... I'm tapped." Without the adrenaline, he could already feel the exhaustion hitting.
Roy glared at him, shaking his head, "You should've--"
"What, left you alone and ripped the sheets up worrying? No thanks. I need sleep now, though..."
"All right. I'm pretty awake, but I'll come keep you company. Did you eat?" The look told him volumes. "Of course not. Okay, fine. Go on, I'll bring you whatever I can scavenge out of the kitchen. You can make up with Slade once you're not too tired to think straight. Get."
Dick nodded and let go of him, then headed out the door, Roy right behind him. //Just like usual. One screaming match later, and we're fine again...// The thought was almost amusing.
Here's the newest part.
Title: Fractured Lines
Characters: Wilson clan
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Some profanity.
Disclaimer: I wish these guys were mine, they'd be treated better than DC does. But they're not, DC still owns them.
Summary: Just when things looked like they might start going back to "normal"...
Notes:
merfilly wrote Dinah, Slade, and Rose. Roy and Dick are, as usual, my problem children. 12:45 am
//...I really, really need to talk to you, I know you're home, where are you?// Dick grumbled mentally as he hunted through the house for his lover and master. Both of his lovers, actually, but Slade currently had priority...
The man in question came around the corner, moving cat quiet from habit, and his eye searching. When it landed on Dick, there was no question that he was not pleased.
There could be any number of reasons for that, and Dick was on a mission of his own. "Canary told me something you need to know."
"It can wait." The cold dismissal of his words was not a good omen.
Dick went very, very still, watching Slade's face. "What's going on?" //What the fuck?//
"What gives you the leeway to withhold information from a mission debrief? Do you think your status gives you that?" His voice was full of anger at Dick.
Dick went chalk-white, mind flashing through. //What-how-ROY!// "It covered everything important." He'd only managed the careful obfuscations because Slade hadn't pushed... And he wasn't touching that 'status' question. Not a chance.
Slade could still move faster than Dick could track at times. This was one of them, as the heavy hand landed in a stunning backhand. "I told you not to ever do that again. Didn't I?"
Blood pooled in his mouth, tears in his eyes and white light streaked across his vision as pain stole his breath, knocked back against the wall. He swallowed the blood and tried to breathe, shaken... and there was--unfortunately--only one answer. "Yes, sir."
"So, your next reply is everything you left out, yes?" His voice slid over the words with an icy menace. He began walking, hands behind his back, toward his office, assured Dick would follow properly.
Dick closed his eyes, then heeled Slade, swallowing blood again before he started talking. Roy'd already---and what the HELL was up with that?!--told Slade gods knew what, so it was time to get thorough, sticking as close to purely the facts as he could. His jaw ached, but his speech came out clearly.
Slade settled in his chair behind his desk, flicking an eye over the monitors. One was trained on Lian, making sure the baby of the household was safe. Another was following Dinah's wandering of his house //Getting braver in your gilded cage, Canary?//, while the rest showed varying scenes of the house. A casual play over the controls, and he insured that the infirmary would not come up for view. "You do understand your mistake now, Kid?" he asked once Dick finished, his voice and face much calmer now.
Dick's eyes flashed with something unidentifiable, but his expression never changed--he had that much control... yet there was acid in his answer despite every attempt to cover it, despite the reaction he knew it was going to get the moment he heard the tone of his voice. "Yes, sir. I get it. You want to know everything." //Just like someone else I know.//
Slade's hand tensed on the controls to the security cameras, his eye boring into Dick. His full-fledged temper snapped into place, and he thought about beating the boy for his impertinence. Then the eye narrowed, and Slade spoke in dead calm tones. "When you wear my colors, I will know everything, Dick Grayson." He then indicated the door. "Report to the infirmary. Harper's waiting for you. By his own choice." He reversed his earlier decision to keep them separate. "Seems he'll follow you into hell itself." He turned back to the business on his desk then.
"You. Fucking. didn't." Never in all of the years Slade had known Dick had he ever heard that tone from the boy's mouth. No one ever had. It was Batman's voice with a killer's edge, black ice and the howling of a midnight sandstorm. It was Renegade's voice in the full grip of a killing rage--and it was turned with lethal intent on his own master for his lover's sake.
Slade stood, coming from around the desk to stand right in front of his perfect heir, the one man on the face of the planet that fit Slade perfectly. "I did not offer. I did not, a single time, hint that it could be his." He reached up--and Renegade ducked back, the rage in his voice blazing in his eyes. Slade cocked his head to one side, and gave the boy a penetrating look. His voice did not hold warmth when he spoke. "When he asked, to protect you from his slower reactions, who was I to deny him?"
Agony slashed through the rage in those eyes for a moment--just a moment--and he took a single hard breath, rage stiffening his spine and wrecking all of his control. "The same man that played my lover's fears and issues to put him back on a killing field, Slade, despite knowing exactly what the first time did to him. The same man that left me no choice but to let the best thing that ever happened to me turn himself into a killer again to watch my back." //The same man who's daughter used to have two eyes,// sat hard behind his lips, barely restrained. "You knew I didn't want him out there. You knew I wanted him safe--and it didn't matter when someone as good as he is made the offer, did it?"
"Question, Kid." Slade refused to let it go to the physical, even as he had to rein his temper in. "What did Dinah see that made her seek you out? What made her risk her neck at your hands, and then ask yourself if you think he would have been safe without every advantage we can give him?"
His shoulders and thighs locked up--//Luthor's not Luthor. We're being played, and we don't know the stakes...// "Oh, you," and the rest of it was in Romany, rolling, bitter savagery in his voice as he swore at him. "She doesn't think Luthor's Luthor. He didn't react right. He didn't know enough. Hope and Mercy weren't there. You're being played and don't even know it, is what she saw." Not how he'd originally intended to put that.
Slade's fists clenched at his side, but he had a focus outside of Dick now. "You need to go to Harper, wait with him." Slade had things to do, and could not spend time mollifying his boy. "For what it's worth, he stands as good a chance as you did of no side effects." There, he had managed to keep his anger out of his voice long enough to offer that much.
"We'd all better hope so," Dick replied, managing to force himself into motion. This fight wasn't near through, but there was someone a hell of a lot more important for him to see to. He nudged the door open and slid out of it, not daring to touch it again, and headed straight for the infirmary. //Roy, WHY?!//
*~*~*~
Rose was on the landing when Dick slid out of the room, every fiber vibrating with his anger. She had been in her room, but her nerves had begun to prickle, until a full precog sensation was itching, just at the back of her mind. Now, she felt as if she knew what it likely was, as she worried for her new home, her family. She had truly felt that life could be good, that she could finally belong and be happy among people that would not see her as a freak.
And now that was threatened, if Dick and her father were arguing. She could see no other reason for Dick to be leaving Daddy's office in a rage, except that they had argued. She descended the stairs, and reached the office just as her father was exiting.
"Daddy," she began, reaching out to him.
"I have things to do, Rose," he said, brusquely and without touching the hand she held out. His emotions were locked from his face, but she could read his body, read carefully into what he was not saying. The mere fact he called her by name, had pleaded business first spoke volumes.
"Then let me help you, Daddy." She stood up tall and slim, her face showing her eagerness to please. "I'm not delicate; I know you have been shielding me from what the League did, what Light was raving about when we extracted him from the Titans. This whole Society thing revolves on that, doesn't it Daddy?" She kept talking, showing her ability to pay attention, to piece it together. "You got confirmation from the Canary. That's why she was so upset the other night."
Slade looked down at this youngest child of his, the product of an affair spanning several years, a hidden blessing from an old friend now gone. Slowly, he nodded, and then put his hand on her shoulder, drawing her close. For a long moment, he just held her in a loose hug, letting her squeeze his waist.
"Come in the office, Kitten, and we'll talk." His voice was gentle now, as he recognized the fact he had made a mistake, one of several in fact. What had been said to Dick had been thrown out as much for Dick not following the rules, as for the fact that he knew things were amiss. There had been far too many things in too short a time, rearranging the way his world worked. Some of them, like Dick and the other additions, had come because he chose them. Others, like feeling the others in his echelon of the Society had other, too-well hidden agendas, were gnawing on his need to control the game from his version of the rules.
Learning the full details of the League's perfidy, and Light's culpability in matters, had done little to ease the growing sense of danger. He needed to watch Dinah's conversation with Dick, rather than track her down, as he had intended. She likely would have provoked more anger, considering their dealings before going to Kahndaq.
He settled into his chair, as Rose perched on the desk in front of him, as he started explaining everything, bringing her up to date. He kept it cut and dry, but as he progressed, he started seeing small nuances he had missed, pieces that at the time had not fit the puzzle. Eventually, father and daughter were sharing the executive chair, drawing out organizational charts to see what each event had affected.
They had a list of obvious and suspected motives listed for each member at the uppermost level, when the words of 'Luthor's not Luthor' rang back through his mind, and caused Slade to check the security feed for Dick and Dinah's conversation. He sat back in the chair, studying the visual and verbal clues Dinah offered, while Rose all but curled in his lap, resting the unseeing side of her face against his shoulder.
"She could be useful, using her as the blind mole, that way," Rose commented, as they watched.
"Hmm." His non-committal tone in that murmur made her press her cheek to his.
"Blondie bother you? I can always dispose of her as quietly as possible, refocus Lian on myself," Rose purred. "She's cool, but you come first, and she makes you twitch."
"No profit in killing her yet." Slade stroked her hair. "She and I had words. Concerning sons." Rose's breath caught; she hated Joey with a passion, blaming him for the intentional overdose that had robbed her of her sanity, but she never breathed a word of it. Not even when her father was missing Wintergreen would she say one bad word about her brother.
"She will not get another chance," Rose growled. "And she will be made aware of that." Her fierce protection of him drew a smile to his lips. "What about Dick, Daddy? What happened?"
"A disagreement on professional and personal matters." Only Rose could hear the faint twinge of regret, and only because she knew the man fairly well, having studied him from the minute he had taken her into his life. She knew if his nerves had been flicked on the Joey subject that Dick had walked into a powder keg to begin with. She would have to find a way to slip that knowledge his way, to help smooth matters over…maybe Roy would see the logic in keeping Dick and Slade on good terms and help her there. After all, it was not like the men could just pick up and leave…they'd have both Ravager and Terminator hunting them for the rest of their short lives, if they got out at all.
She shifted, wrapping her arms around his neck, then smiled as she started to stand. "Daddy, I'll handle things. Don't worry so much."
He nodded, feeling more relaxed than he had in a few days. "Kitten…I just had the Canary's wing fixed…don't break it or anything else too noticeable."
Rose flashed her brilliantly insane look, and practically danced to the door. "Oh Daddy, I'll be discreet this time."
`~`~`~`~`
Rose slipped down the hall, homing in on where Dinah was. It was quite late, but the vigilante had last been in the…ahh yes, still in the kitchen, listening to the radio and washing the dishes she had used for her late snack. Rose moved in, eye narrowed as she prepared to give Dinah a firm warning where her father was considered.
"I've already walked the road of intimidation with your father," Dinah began, not even turning. "And I've been expecting you all evening."
Rose had to pause; she knew she had not made a noise, had not done anything that should have triggered a warning. She started to ask her teacher a question, momentarily forgetting her anger.
"Air pressure. When you live in close quarters on a regular basis with Batman or one of his, or a speedster, you learn to feel the movement of air." Now she did turn, her face serious. "Tell me your grief with me, but use logic, not emotion. If I am supposed to teach you, I might as well teach you from my mistakes."
Rose had to regroup. This reaction was not what she expected, and then she had to look and be sure it was just Black Canary. The woman before her was not particularly renowned for her brains, or for letting logic overrule her heart.
"You made Daddy angry. Hit him with something you had to know was off limits." At Dinah's nod, Rose cocked her head to one side. "Are you suicidal?"
The blonde actually laughed, a low sound that was one part rueful, one part bitter. "No, Rose. I spoke without thinking, something I hope I can keep from being a habit of yours and Lian's. It brings way too much grief." She sighed, her face troubled and betraying her emotions of loss and fear. "I apologized, the instant it was out there."
"Don't do it again, Dinah. I really think Lian's pretty fond of you, and that might get bad if you hurt him again." Rose turned away to go, feeling her warning was served, leaving Dinah to her thoughts again.
~`~`~`~`~
2 am EST
Slade had continued to work, one monitor tuned to the infirmary, on the off chance Dick needed help with Roy. His anger with the boy had largely dissipated, but he could see it was by no means over with Dick. The issues raised would haunt them for days, if not longer. Right now, Slade was too busy looking over the contracts proposed to him by the Society, specifically Luthor, to find common threads.
He had begun to notice that the kidnappings centered on energy channelers…both hero and villain…who could grasp and control large amounts of energy from outside sources. That was a suspicious enough pattern, and he began to look into disappearances he knew of. This search, however, came to a screeching halt as a news alert crawled over his browser. Other pursuits aside, he had to learn how much this affected his plans, and who might have done it.
"Black Canary," he said, flicking on the intercom to her room. The sleeping woman roused to her costumed name, slowly, and looked around, blinking. Slade would have been amused at another time, but right now, he had business. "Come to my office."
"Give me a minute, Slade…" He turned his attention back to the news, away from the sight of her standing to stretch, flicking the infirmary monitor off. She was knocking on the door three minutes later, a loose robe thrown on over her tee shirt and shorts. When he called her in, he beckoned for her to come to his side of the desk, watching her reaction as she read the news.
Dinah felt her breath catch in her throat, as the blood drained from her face. She had to rest her hand on Slade's shoulder, to keep from passing out as she read the news of the explosion concerning the satellite the League used as their Watch Tower. She scanned over the calendar at hand, trying to recall rosters, muttering under her breath. It convinced Slade that this had not been an odd ploy of the heroes, to go to ground, as he heard the names she whispered, trying to figure out who had been on duty.
"With the funeral services today, I doubt they had more than skeleton crews," he told her impassively, to see what else he could learn while she was in shock.
"Middle of night…volunteer duty probably," she said, tears springing to her eyes. "It would have been J'onn or Br…Batman," she whispered, pulling away from him, from the computer, and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Don't fall to pieces on me now, sister," Slade growled. "I need hero reactions, pronto, so I can handle this."
Her eyes snapped to his face, and she started to retort, until she read the knowledge there. "This is not something you knew was going to happen," she whispered.
"And it smacks of someone accelerating a plan that has been hidden for some time," Slade agreed. "So this is where you choose. The hidden devil or the one you know?"
She took a deep breath, knowing the third choice, to walk out and be a marked target was already out. "Your game, Slade…but I don't kill."
"We'll see."
~`~`~`~`~
5:25 am, EST
//Nnnh... oh, god, my head...// Roy winced, went to lift his hand to his still-closed eyes, and panicked when he couldn't move, struggling against what felt like steel--
"Roy, Roy stop!" snapped over his ears and he went still, relaxing at the sound of Dick's voice--if Dick was right there, it had to be okay... Then, memory crashed through him like a flood tide, sharper and clearer than his usual recall--bite of the needle, 'this is what I have to be', Slade's hands on his arm, talking to Slade, laying it all out... //I'm okay. Oh, thank you gods, I'm okay... Guess I ought to open my eyes, huh?//
He wasn't, really, sure that was a good idea, but from the tone of Dick's voice, he'd better... //Wha? --oh, yeah... He is pissed. Wow.// The speed he was processing things at was going to take some getting used to--his subconscious was running way ahead of his conscious thought. He slowly opened one eye, wincing at the light, then the other--and when he actually located Dick, ice water lanced down his spine. Dick was sporting a bruise that matched the one fading across his cheek--barring the larger size //Slade backhanded him, shit...//--and the expression on his face... //Oh, fuck...// That iced-over fury was getting way, way too familiar. "Dick..."
"You scared the fuck out of me, you son of a bitch." Any conversation that started with Dick swearing at him was so not going to go well.
"Dick, I didn't--"
"Didn't think? No sh--"
It took real effort to interrupt that blazing rage, but damn it, Dick. "No, damn it. I didn't mean to worry you--but I had to do thi--" //I had to, Dick. I can't be the reason you get hurt.//
"No, you fucking didn't! I know things were fucked up, but we could have fixed it!"
"Bullshit, Dick, and you know it!"
"No, I don't. We could. have. fixed. it."
"No, Dick, we couldn't have... not without handicapping you, and that might as well be a death sentence. Look, get me out of these damned things." Dick glared at him--not that that was anything new--and stalked over, unlocking the restraints with savage twists of his wrist, ankles first //smart, just in case...//--and the minute he had a hand free, it shot out and wrapped around Dick's upper arm as he unfastened the other wrist. "Now, listen to me, damnit!"
"Fine. Talk," Dick snapped, blue eyes locked onto his like targeting lasers.
"We nearly fucked up a hit we could have done in our sleep even two months ago, because I can't--I couldn't--keep up with what was in your head, and you can no more slow that down than you can stop breathing. It's the same reason Wa--Fleetfeet and I make a crap team, Dick, and you know it."
"It's not the same thing, Roy!"
"Yes, it is, Dick. It's the exact same thing, and I refuse to be the reason something happens to you!"
"Then why go with me, Roy?"
The confusion and baffled rage in that question did nothing to keep the words from slamming into his chest like a knife plunged heart-deep, and he had no idea what was blazed across his face as he sucked a breath. //How can you not get it, Dick?!// "Did you not listen to a damned word I've said over the last day?! I'm not going to let him get you hurt, or be the cause of it!" //I can't.//
"I... jesus, Roy. What the fuck did my manipulative bastard of a lover say to you, to push you to this?"
"Nothing I didn't need to hear." Which was true. Slade's... visit had snapped him out of the numb state he'd been in, as close to his 'normal' self as could be expected... and he'd needed it. He'd been leaning on Dick too hard, probably out of the shock--and it was damned well time Dick remembered they were partners.
"Roy..." dark warning in that tone, along with the anger.
Fine. Dick wanted to play it this way? Fine. "Basically? If I was going to be nothing but your"
Dick's blue eyes flared hot and his hand clenched, "Oh, that son of a--"
"Dick, knock it off. He was right." //Slade's going to kill me. He's absolutely going to kill me, for putting this between them.//
"No, he wasn't!"
"How can you--what the fuck, Dick?"
"I told you I'd calm down, I didn't say I was over it! The last fucking thing I wanted was you in the middle of this side of things, you're better--"
His other hand snapped up, plastered over Dick's lips before the rest of that sentence could come out of his mouth. "Don't go there, Dick. I'm not, and if you'd listen to your brain and not whatever the hell overprotective impulses are riding you, you, you'd know it. I'm a"
Dick bit at his fingers, and snapped once he moved his hand, "I didn't think that far ahead, I was a little busy trying to figure out how the hell to keep you alive!"
"So get that far, and fast, Dick. You know me better than anyone on this planet, so get your brain in gear and ask yourself if there was ever a chance I wasn't going to stay at your back."
Dick stared at him, caught between the tide of his rage and Roy's frustrated logic, //God damn it, I-- Shit. Pay attention to what he's really saying, before you make this worse.// "I..." He shook his head, unable to argue with that. He did know better.
"And by the way, Dick..." Oh, Roy was well and truly steamed at him, to be using that tone. "Much as I appreciate you protecting my daughter... stop trying to protect me--Dinah didn't take it from Ollie, and I'm not taking it from you. You. Know. Better, everyone you've ever been with would have kicked your ass for that kind of bullshit, why do you think I won't?"
//That's not the--I wasn't-- Aw, fuck. I was.// He felt his eyes drop, letting himself react that much, as he stopped long enough to really think about how he'd been acting, and how it could have appeared... and yeah. Grade-A overprotective jackass. "Roy... shit. I... didn't mean to come off like that. I... just didn't want you to follow me into this. More blood on my hands is nothing, but..."
"Dick... I get that. I promise--and thank you... but I can handle my own sins, all right? I don't need an intercessor, or for you to stand between me and the rest of the world."
"You wouldn't be in this if I hadn't--"
"Dick, if you 'hadn't', I'd be dead, and Chesh would probably have my daughter," frank acceptance of the fact that nothing but what Dick had done had kept him alive. "And thanks all the same, but I'm not ready to die yet. I... don't know how this is going to end, hell, I don't even come close to having all of the pieces of this puzzle--and yes, that scares me--but I can't do nothing. Not now, not ever. You got that, yet?"
Dick's lips set hard, staring at him, then slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, Roy... I got that--but how could you take this kind of a chance?"
Roy snorted. "That's rich, coming from you."
Dick shook his head. "Slade didn't give me much of a choice. Yes or no, in or out, choose right now... Not like I could say no."
//Yes you could have,// sat on the tip of his tongue, but he choked it back. No... Dick couldn't have. Not when leaving Slade's household and protection would paint a target on his back for the Bat--and there was no doubt in Dick's mind, at least, that that was exactly what would have happened. Roy wasn't so sure that Bruce wouldn't have taken it better than Dick thought, but he'd been there for a nightmare or three of Dick's right after the son of a bitch had sent him into Blackgate--Dick would die before he'd allow himself to ever be caged like that again, and that was coloring every choice his lover made. He knew it... and it made too damned much sense for his high-flying partner and best friend. He understood, after all, he had a streak of that same defiant fear himself... So he just nodded, and let go of Dick's arm to stroke down to his hand, wincing at the bruise he'd unintentionally left behind. "Guess not. Sorry..." eyes indicating the bruise.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing... still, Roy--"
"You came through it fine. Rose... well, you told me what happened to her... and Slade figured I'd come through fine. Something about my stubborn streak, apparently. It was worth it, Dick... and besides, won't it be nice not to have to be so damned careful?"
That shocked a laugh out of his lover, blue eyes finally starting to lose their angry cast, and the tone was rueful when he finally spoke. "Yeah... it will. Just... tell me again that this was your choice."
"My choice, Dick. Mine alone," green eyes looked into blue with nothing but honesty... and slowly, Roy watched his lover's expression settle down, relaxing into nothing but Dick Grayson, Renegade's volatile temper back under control.
"Okay. God, I owe Slade an apology..."
"What did you do?"
"Oh. Not much... just got into a hell of a fight with him, and really didn't take this news well, on top of everything else... Oh, yeah, thanks ever so for ratting me out, I was going to figure out how to fix--"
"No, you weren't; sorry I got you in trouble; and my way was faster. And worked better. We've got this, now."
"Yeah... we probably do. Damn, we are going to be one hell of a team, now..."
"Always were, Dick. Just an extra edge, now."
"Yeah. That's what I meant," Dick nodded, and leaned in, hand sliding over his shoulder... and Roy just kissed him back, hand sliding up to his hair. //I'm okay, Dick. I promise. I'm right here,// he said with the touch, and felt tensed muscles slowly relax under his hands.
Dick pulled away eventually, a yawn cracking his jaw. "God, I am gonna crash so hard..."
"Why?"
"I've been up almost 24 hours and running on pure damned adrenaline for the last five, Roy, between Slade and you... I'm tapped." Without the adrenaline, he could already feel the exhaustion hitting.
Roy glared at him, shaking his head, "You should've--"
"What, left you alone and ripped the sheets up worrying? No thanks. I need sleep now, though..."
"All right. I'm pretty awake, but I'll come keep you company. Did you eat?" The look told him volumes. "Of course not. Okay, fine. Go on, I'll bring you whatever I can scavenge out of the kitchen. You can make up with Slade once you're not too tired to think straight. Get."
Dick nodded and let go of him, then headed out the door, Roy right behind him. //Just like usual. One screaming match later, and we're fine again...// The thought was almost amusing.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 10:23 pm (UTC)From the minute we started handling the Slade and Dick interaction I was shaking my head. I don't know about Yena, but I knew things were about to go south, fast.
The boys *should* switch to childhood tongues when they are under severe stress, IMHO.
Dinah....well, she's not happy. She's bearing the full weight of the guilt of the League here, convinced that the heroes are broken because of it, and trapped in a position where concern for her family (Roy and Lian) are clipping her wings. Still, usually once she makes her mind up, it takes a ton of dynamite to move her off a course.
Rose, here, where we ignored the horrible fiasco of Imposter Slade fitting her with a Kryptonite eye (and no, I refuse to credit that act to Real Slade, as Real Slade was very much about his family in Titans and his solo book), is fully committed to her father. The fact she has her lusting object, Dick, present is icing, and she adores Lian. Roy and Dinah have not fully earned her loyalty, and may never do so, but she accepts them as long as they behave. (And Roy comes out ahead there, being a Titan and Lian's dad.)
And yeah, her idea of discreet is not very quiet. She can't help it; her brother overdosed her on the serum and she has those hyper senses on top of a precog ability to drive her insane.
Bringing the Watch Tower down...and Dinah being so close to whichever of the two was actually aboard, should continue to impact the story significantly.
Thank you so much for both reading and commenting so well!