A/N: Warning! There is a good chance this will be an extremely dark tale. I am not sure exactly. We are going to try making a plot graph…then maybe I will follow my own dam story line. I got so far off the story line with the story those weeping eyes that it isn’t even worth trying to fix. Any way…Welcome Past Performances.

Prologue

Slade stood in the middle of the office, his hands wrapped around the neck of an old target.

“Mr. Lingstrum…. it is a shame you decided not to heed my advice and drop out of the race for Luthor’s company. This could have all been avoided if you had just said yes.”

Slade watched as the man kicked and flailed. He heard noises and knew someone was coming. There was a click and then an explosion and the doors flew open. As the smoke cleared Slade saw spiky black hair.

“Ah Robin, your just in time to see the master at work.” Slade started to squeeze tighter and Mr. Lingstrum gave a sickening choke and gripped at Slade’s hands.

“Drop him Slade!”

But Slade did not move, instead he gripped even tighter.

“Slade! Stop! Put him down! I wont ask again!”

“Why Robin, you never asked at all.” Slade emphasized the word asked with a small and tight squeeze of the dangling man’s throat.

“You demanded like you always do. Maybe if you asked nicely for once…oh look Robin, his face is turning blue! Better ask me soon.”

With that Robin didn’t hesitate, he lunged forward and whipped out his bow staff. He was going to bring it down right on Slade’s elbow joint. But just as the bow was about to strike Slade performed a spin kick and nailed Robin directly in the chest. Robin went flying and hit the wall by the burned doors. It took a moment but Robin managed to sit up. He looked from Slade back to Mr. Lingstrum,

“Slade! Don’t you see what your doing! You’re killing him!”

“That’s the point Robin. Had you stayed as my apprentice you would have seen a lot more then just this.”

As id to make a point Slade smacked the man across the face and tears streamed from Mr. Lingstrum’s eyes.

“SLADE!”

“You can stop yelling my name, that won’t stop the inevitable! It never stops anything! You can yell and kick and scream but in the end, if death has come for you there is nothing you can do to stop it!” Slade threw the man across the room and he smashed into the class doors of his own liquor cabinet.

Slade started to walk towards him but Robin was up again and he advanced swiftly upon Slade. “I won’t let you hurt him, you will have to go through me before you touch this man again!”

“If I must.” Slade said.

For almost twenty minutes the fight raged, but Robin was not doing very well, Slade was not holding back this time, and everything Robin tried to block seemed to find another way in. Finally Slade got Robin harshly across the temple with a fist. Robin went down and Slade continued towards Mr. Lingstrum.

Mr. Lingstrum, who was whining and mumbling, tried to sit up, but ended up falling onto his side, “Please! I will pull out of the bidding. I promise! Just don’t kill me!”

“Sorry…it’s to late for that. Mr. Luthor isn’t very nice about giving second chances….” Slade gently picked Mr. Lingtrum up by his shoulders, then just before the man fell back over Slade smashed his fist into the crying man’s face. Blood poured out from his nose and mouth.

Robin tried to get up, but his world was spinning. He managed to move enough to watch in horror as Slade beat the living hell out of Mr. Lingstrum.

“SLADE STOP!” Robin begged. He refused to lie quietly as Slade showed his truest and deepest colors.

“What Robin? Oh yes…I didn’t realize you had never actually seen what I do for a living. Fighting you and your friends is a side job, more of a hobby if you will. My real job, the one that I do when I am not trying to relieve myself of you bratty children is that of a simple assassin. I kill Robin. And pardon, but I had forgotten you had never seen my true calling in action.”

Slade threw Mr. Lingstrum who landed on top of Robin. He was babbling and mumbling and crying and dripping god knows what bodily fluids all over. Robin turned his head to look up at Mr. Lingstrum, and then he opened his mouth to speak to him and try to calm him down. Robin soon found that a mistake for once his mouth opened blood from Mr. Lingstrum’s face dripped into his mouth. Robin felt the bile rise from his own stomach, he shoved the man off and vomited right there. Robin had never felt so disgusted and humiliated.

“It’s all right Robin. Even you who I deemed to be the perfect apprentice could not get used to such gore in one day. It took me a year or two to get over the sights and sounds that come with this job.” Slade came closer and gently pushed Robin onto his back with his boot and looked down on to the boy’s face.

“Such a pity, such a waste. You truly could have been a marvel. A god among men, to bad your selfish, spoiled needs came before that of things much more important. If there was even a slight chance I could have you as my student again, any chance at all you would ever be the loyal apprentice I would want, I wouldn’t hesitate to take you away. But sadly, the chance of it all failing just isn’t worth the effort. I am sure you are so disappointed… Oh and just an FYI… next time you come to intervene be ready. I have been patient Robin, and I have always held back. You are all just children after all. However, there will come a time when you and your team will face me….and hear me now Robin because I won’t say it again. I will not hold back. Your team won’t be facing my robots, you will all be facing me. And I can kill all of you quicker then anything you have ever seen or could possibly imagine. I am the bringer of death, and I never fail. Why do you think I come so highly recommended.” Slade smacked Robin upside the head with his boot. Then he stepped over the boy and picked up Mr. Lingstrum.

“Slade please!”

Robin watched in horror, he tried his best to get up, but vomit kept climbing into his mouth, his world was blurred shapes and Slade’s words echoed in his mind. He couldn’t find his center and he couldn’t calm down. Robin watched with huge eyes as Slade shoved a bowie knife into Mr. Lingstrums belly, then he yanked it sharply to one side and Robin saw the man’s stomach and intestines fall out. Slade then spun and flung Mr. Lingstrum towards the window. It shattered into a thousand pieces and Mr. Lingstrum fell towards the street below.

“NO!” Robin shrieked and with all his strength he shoved up from the floor and ran towards the window. He jumped out headfirst and dove towards Mr. Lingstrum but Robin felt a hand on his ankle. He looked back and saw Slade had hold of him. “NO LET ME GO I HAVE TO GET TO HIM!” Robin begged.

“Watch Robin. Watch as an innocent dies by your own stupidity and foolishness.” Robin gazed back and saw the body, how it twisted and flopped in the air, blood and organs spilling out as gravity worked it’s greedy hands. There were no screams from the man, and Robin knew he was dead. But there had never been an innocents that Robin could not catch when they fell. He had always been there to dive after them, to swing in on his rope and catch them. To see one fall with no one or nothing to catch them made his mind explode. he was greeted by images flashing before his eyes. Memories flooded his brain and he lost all control of his head. Falling with no net, it had been a once time thing. No one to catch them, their bodies in awkward positions as they hit the floor, bones broken and blood pouring out, “STOP!” Robin yelled at Mr. Lingstrums body, but it did not stop. And even from the twelfth story of the building Robin could hear the sickening thud as the dead weight of Mr. Lingstrum hit the ground. The noise was so familiar. So very familiar.

Robin was pulled from his horror and fear as Slade yanked him back into the room and flung him towards the opposite wall again. This time when Robin hit the wall, he slid down and did not try to rise.

Slade stared at him, “Welcome to the real world, it’s time for someone to give you a reality check. You had been spared blood and carnage all your life. You have been trained and taught that spilling the blood of any one good or evil is bad. Well little Robin, that is a pack of lies. This is true reality, men kill men for far less then wars. I have seen two men rip each other to shreds for something as simple as a piece of bread. There is blood and there is pain and there is no mercy in the real world. When you learn and truly understand why men are the way they are, and what makes us all truly evil on the inside that is when you will be able to understand the nature of everyone and everything. That is when you will truly know where your future lies.”

With that Slade turned and ran. He jumped out the window, leaving Robin injured, covered in blood, and with nothing but numbness to his person.