What?

Chapter Five

I sighed.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, feeling almost defeated. Almost. He turned me to a set of stairs. They led to a platform below, closer to the monitors. I could swear that he was smiling.

"Down there if you would," He said.

He led the way down the steps, never taking his hand off of my shoulder. It was unnerving. Once we got down, he basically pushed me into the center. Another light shot on and I looked up, covering my eyes with my arm. I felt his hand leave my shoulder and so I looked over for him. I heard him snap his fingers. I saw a few Sladebots appear behind him and put myself in a fighting stance.

He chuckled, "Oh no, Robin. No scheduled fights today."

The way he said 'scheduled' hinted that they could still break out. I tensed. If there were no 'scheduled' fights, then why did he just summon those metallic pieces of garbage? 'Maybe I shouldn't say that's what I think they are around him,' I mentally noted to myself. As if he read my mind, my question was answered.

"The next few days will be...observations," He told me. Observations?

"What do you mean by 'observations'?" I asked.

"I might have plenty of knowledge about you, Robin, but there's always more to learn. Quite bluntly, I will be monitoring you, while training you at the same time. But as of now, I'm not exactly training you. More so, I'm getting information," He said this like it would be an everyday conversation.

I felt suddenly violated. No way! No sick, stupid way would I ever let him 'observe me'! And what did he mean 'getting information'? I'm not sharing my life's story if that is what he thinks! The Titans barely know about my past and all they really know is that I lived and worked in Gotham when I was younger! Nothing new! If Slade thought that he was going dive into anything that deep, he must be insane.

He snapped again and the Sladebots practically surrounded me. Two grabbed my arms and held them up horizontally to the floor. Another seemed to be taking measurements of different lengths of my body. It was the opposite of what I expected.

"How does that suit feel on you?" He inquired.

I turned my gaze from the Sladebots to him, a bit startled. I thought for a second, which was a bit hard because the Sladebot taking measurements had just flattened my hair down onto my head. I scowled at the thing and let it do its job. Turning my anger to Slade was my instinct. So I did.

"Well, it's a bit constricting in the shoulder areas and the gloves are a little tight on my fingers and wrists. The leather isn't all that comfortable on the legs, especially around the knees either. But then again, maybe it's just cause you had to kick me to the floor earlier and I had to feel your disgusting grip on my wrists," That got him at least a little annoyed.

"How about you try that again and I won't kill those so-called friends of yours," He was so cold and bitter. Why did he say 'so-called'? They were still my friends, right?

I bit my lip and started again, "I'm not really used to it yet. It's still new, but the gloves are constricting. I think they're a little small."

"Better answer."

I mentally hit myself. With Slade, I didn't know exactly how far I could push him. Where was the limit? All I knew was that I couldn't push enough because if I pushed too hard... they'd suffer the consequences. I looked down. Finally, the Sladebots went off to the sides. I saw him circle me again and I tensed in response.

"You have a good structure, but you have to eat more. You're as thin as a toothpick, Robin," I wrinkled up my face. I don't need to eat more! All right, so I do. Ah! I hate it when he's right. I felt my chin gently lifted up to meet the eyes of my captor. I take that back, to meet the eye of my captor.