Luthor's Assassin

Zucco

They could always tell when that date was approaching.

And by that date, they meant the date of his parent's death.

At first it would be subtle things, like the boy staring absently off into space for a long period of time, or missing a target by a hair's breadth during training (which never happened anymore...).

But as the day grew nearer Dick's emotions would far too often get the best of him, and they would find him curled up in odd places, shaking and in tears. Orders would fall on deaf ears, and hitting the target would become an impossible task.

Slade preferred to keep punishments to a minimum during this time. Luthor disagreed, but Slade would simply reply to his demands with his favorite line: "My job is to train him, not traumatize him." But even he grew weary of the little assassin's sad and broken attitude as the days dragged by.

Naturally, this was the perfect time for them to reveal Tony Zucco to the child.

_Line Break_

Today was the day.

The day he lost everything- his happiness, his family, heck, even his freedom disappeared at the hands of a bald genius today!

Dick was curled up on his bed in his room, hidden beneath a pile of blankets. It was nearly noon- not that he cared, but he was dimly aware of the odd fact that he hadn't been called out his room by an angry Deathstroke or a manipulative Luthor. For an odd moment he wondered if they would take pity on him today and not make him train or steal anything, but then he dismissed the thought from his head. Deathstroke the Terminator pitied no one, and neither did Lex Luthor.

Silent tears streamed down his cheeks, and he shook with the strain of holding in his sobs.

"Ladies and Gentleman, the Flying Graysons!"

If only there had been something he could have done-

"Are you ready to fly, my little robin?"

He would have willingly died with them if he had known that today would cause him so much pain-

"CRACK!"

"NO!"

If only someone had listened to him-

"I'm telling you, it wasn't an accident! They were murdered! Dad always checked the cables before we went on, and there was this strange man earlier who-"

"Yeah, yeah, kid. We'll take it into consideration. Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss."

Sorry for his loss... yeah right. They didn't care. No one did, really, except maybe Roy since they were friends, but he didn't know what it was like to lose everything. His adopted father was nice enough, didn't beat him every time he slipped up, gave him freedoms, and let him roam the streets as a vigilante, saving people and working for justice!

Dick choked back more sobs, trying to keep quiet. If Slade was to hear him right now...

He shifted into a more comfortable position and clutched at the blankets, squeezing his eyes shut. Not for the first time he wished he still had his stuffed elephant Zitka, but Deathstroke had taken her away years ago. The sheets beneath his head were wet, but he didn't care anymore... he didn't care about anything anymore...

"Having some trouble, apprentice?"

Dick shot up from his cocoon of blankets in terror and came face-to-face with Slade. His eyes widened as the mercenary eyed him critically. Hurriedly he wiped at his face at a futile attempt to erase the evidence of his tears, but it was too late...