Sincerely Adeline

Journal Entry #7: No, You Don't

Dear Journal,

I saw him today. I saw Slade. It's... been a while. Years. Joey and Grant are, I guess, teenagers now. And Slade looks like he's, well, like life hasn't been all that friendly to him. He asked to meet in a place outside of Jump. It's changed so much since I last came here. It's a beautiful city. The beaches were full of people thanks to the water being the right temperature.

And there's also a tower. A T-shaped tower in the middle of the bay on the only island. They call it 'Titans Tower' and it's there because Jump City has new defenders, the Teen Titans. Joey told me about them before. But I couldn't help but think that if some people left, there wouldn't be a reason to have teenagers risking their lives. On the way out to meet Slade, I stopped for dinner at a restaurant. They gave me a paper and I was horrified to see a familiar mask on the cover with the title 'Bigger Plans in Store?'. I couldn't eat after that. Plans? He was making plans now?

I even drove out to the beach to look at the Tower. It just stood proudly in the middle, the light almost dancing around it. It was hard to imagine how things have taken such a change. I walked to my car though after that feeling worse than before. When I got out at the spot where we were supposed to meet, I was alone. But not for long. I heard sounds coming from the woods nearby the clearing of the mountain side. But it scared me when it wasn't Slade emerging from them. These, metal things did, robots, and went up to me and then they left. I stood still, not wanting to move, but then I heard a name.

"Addie?" And I turned to see... Deathstroke, "It's been a long time."

"Adeline, Slade, you can call me Adeline," I said, "I'm assuming those... things are yours?"

Slade sighed, "Yes, they're mine."

"And what do you want me to call you now? Slade, Deathstroke, Terminator, any or all of the above?" I snapped, suddenly angry at him.

Slade took off his mask, which had changed from being all orange to one half being black and the other orange. He was still young as he pulled off the mask. Still handsome. He still looked like the man that I had once loved. But I could never love him again after what he did.

"Slade's fine. Deathstroke has become a bit more of a... professional title, a step above dangerous," Arrogant little backstabber.

He asked me how I was doing. I said I was fine. He mentioned that he was happy that I came. I said that I wasn't. There was silence. I looked up at him again. There was a difference in his appearance. My bullet had found something to target. Slade wore a black eye patch over his right eye. His hair fell partly in his face as he looked at me. I shook my head. He wanted to talk about the kids, but I had other things to ask him.

"Any word about Grant?" He asked.

"No," I answered, "But, I think he's okay. He knows how to survive nearly anywhere."

After I got a call from Slade after I supposedly killed him, we divorced. But I couldn't have full custody. I got to see the kids most of the time though. Three hundred and sixty three days while Slade saw them only two days. He said that he didn't mind and traveled during that time anyway.

Grant continued to go to military school. He... almost graduated. But he... When he heard that we were getting a divorce, Grant sort of lost it. He wasn't the same. He was angry at both of us, but because he saw me 24/7, he took it out on me. I couldn't talk sense into him. He got angry because when I was talking to Joey I needed all my attention for it and he complained, his behavior getting worse. He was only here for the summer but during the summer between his junior and senior year, he left. I called everybody and the police, but we... never found him.