What?

Chapter Twenty

I had gotten up around four and had been back at work for three hours by now. Around this time, Robin would normally have come in for training to start, but because I let him sleep in, he wasn't. While I knew that I wanted Robin to take on the challenge of getting the prototype, I hadn't given enough thought to it as of now. Sighing, I sipped on water to keep me focused.

The honest fact was that while Robin probably wasn't going to enjoy these first couple missions, I was. I wanted them to make an impression. No, Robin wasn't going to stay out of the spotlight. I wanted people to know that their beloved defender was now aiding their greatest threat. And I wanted the Titans to get that most of all.

However, how to do it was the question. Looking at Wayne Enterprises, I found that it would be hard to make a lasting impression with a moderate fight. That's why for the last two hours I had done nothing but research weapons or potential weapons in Jump City. It was in the Needle that I found a weapon that would suit my purposes.

The Needle held a thermal blaster. One that I could easily modify once Robin brought it to me. If he needs a weapon, he'll bring it to me. I'm not going out for it. Once the modifications were made, I'd give Robin the assignment to get the prototype. Of course the purpose of these assignments would not be revealed to my apprentice as of then. He'd find out as time went on.

Since I didn't want too many disturbances getting the blaster, a nice sneak-in would be easy enough. I knew that Robin was capable of that after Red X. That gave me another idea. The guards being alerted on the way out wouldn't be such a bad thing... I smiled as the shocked faces came to mind. Afterwards I'd let Robin have his big entrance in and out of Wayne Enterprises. That would be a good enough start for my apprentice.

Leaning back in my chair, I sighed. While I had the entire plan laid out, I was still worried about Robin. I knew that I wasn't exactly hitting what had caused his outroar yesterday with the 'not enough sleep' theory. And it bothered me that I couldn't figure it out. A fear of height was unlikely. Not actually being able to balance was automatically not an option. I went through about fifty of these sorts of options, but nothing seemed to fit the situation. That being said, there wasn't a chance that I wasn't going to attempt to get an answer out of him.

Since I had some time to kill, I decided to construct the two layouts of the Needle and Wayne Enterprises into the cube for Robin to toy with when he got up. Once that was done, I went to the gym for a bit of practice. That lasted a good two hours. Wintergreen greeted me in the hallway on my way back to my room.

"Sleep well?" He asked casually.

"Well enough," I responded.

Wintergreen nodded and continued, "So you've planned out tomorrow?"

"Finished it this morning," I replied, opening the door to my room simultaneously.

"I see," He sounded sullen.

"Will, are you sour about yesterday?" I asked my friend.

Wintergreen shook his head, "I am by no means sour at you, Slade. He's your apprentice and you can train him as you wish."

"You just don't think my method yesterday was effective."

"It was effective, Slade. That is obvious. Perhaps it was too effective in more ways than one," with that he ended.

I nodded, but I was actually more interested in getting ready for the day. After I was ready, Wintergreen brought breakfast in and I ate sparingly. I looked up at the clock which read 10:17 AM. Finishing up, I went to the lab. I was checking the configuration of some computer micro chips when Wintergreen came in.