Song: Suffer with Me
Artist: líue

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| Recap |

I closed my eyes. I felt like I was falling back into my own grave. I called Death "family."

And he laughed in my face. 

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[ Gotham City | Secret Location | Third Person POV ]

Metal boots sounded down the long hallway. The boy who sat in his room, alone with the dead, sat up and stared at the door. He knew what would come, Renegade knew what would come. The lock mechanism of the door clanged loudly before the heavy door was pulled open. Dulled blue eyes looked up, meeting black and orange. 

"Renegade, you have a debrief." Slade's voice was commanding, it sent a shiver down your body as it echoed down the long hallway. The boy merely nodded, the fight out of his bones. He pushed himself to stand, walking to the man. The cold leather of his glove rested on Renegade's shoulder. 

Guiding them down the hallway, Renegade was lead to a room to be changed into his gear. Slade waited outside the door. 

"Gotham is a large city, if only Batman knew we broke his little Wayne right under his nose." Ra's spoke lightly as he walked down the hallway, accompanied by Owlman. Slade gave a slight grin under his mask.

"Not only broke." Slade added lightly, "Shattered." he concluded before Ra's gave a satisfactory nod in response. 

"The meeting begins in 10 minutes. Do not be late." Owlman chastised lightly and continues walking with Ra's down the hallway. They turned into the large meeting room at the end of the hall. Renegade emerged from the room, detailed in his new uniform as he patiently, or dully (no one knew) at Slade's side. 

"I'm ready, sir." Renegade mentioned quietly. Slade gave a curt nod and started walking, Renegade followed without further instruction. Entering the meeting room and standing to the right of Slade, who took at seat at his assigned chair. The meeting began unprompted. Owlman pushed himself to stand. 

"We're giving Renegade a small mission to test his compliance." His words held power. Anyone who feared him, felt as though they were suffocating under it's power. Slade gave a meager nod and waves his hand lightly for him to continue. 

"We ask that he sneak into Wayne Enterprises to steal a series of documents and technology." Ra's continued for him, clicking to show the technology he's asking for, sifting through to show the precise dates. "These documents haven't been digitalized yet, so, they will be in the Archive Room." Ra's concluded. 

"As for the technology, that will be in the Server Room." Owlman added hopefully. A owlish grin spreading onto his friend. "Dear Richard stealing from his foster father." Owlman said with a certain ominous tone. 

"Stealing from a billionaire hardly hurts them." Slade spoke as he looks down at the file which detailed everything. He held it up to Renegade, who took it without speaking. "Study this." He said firmly, earning a nod from the younger. 

"Yes sir." The teens voice came out quietly, a mere whisper in the quiet room. 

"We'd like this to be executed tonight, quietly. If a bat finds out, abandon the mission, and try again in the daytime." Owlman supplies and looks at Renegade, who nods. 

"Yes sir." Renegade's hands gripped the file and look at Slade. 

"Go study." Slade said and Renegade nodded, leaving room without so much as another sound. Slade looked back at the others. Ra's looked oddly pleased, even though his old man wistfulness, Owlman looked.. without better words, oddly at war with himself. 

"Why can't he take on a Bat? He was literally trained by the man, and Batman is bound to notice his own sidekick. Why not have Richard show him what he's learned?" Owlman said angrily as he tapped his fingers against the table in order to calm himself. 

"Because that would ruin the roadwork of Richard's mind." Ra's spoke as if it were obvious. "Keeping him away from the Batman is essential, if we were to expose him right now, Richard would gain hope." Ra's said and sat up straighter in his chair. 

"Maybe that isn't such a bad thing." Slade spoke and looked at them. "Adding hope back, always gives survivors a little kick, a little fight back." He said and laced his fingers together on the table. 

"That's always fun to ruin." He said in a sigh. "And it always, almost always festers back as anger. Gnawing, all consuming, anger." He finished and looked at them. 

"Mission changed, if the Batman shows up, Renegade engages." Slade said as he stood back up, chair sliding back from the force of it. "Oops." 

Ra's looked at him incredulously before resigning himself. "He's your apprentice." Ra's said. 

No. Slade thought as he left the room. He's my reaper. 

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Hello all, I hope you enjoyed this after my long, long hiatus! :)

I'll probably go on another hiatus! I'm sorry! :)

Hope you enjoyed. Stay murderous my assassin children.

- FemaleNightwing