Forgotten Bonds

Thirty-Nine - Torture Device

March 13th, 2009. Friday, 12:01 am. 

Somehow, Slade did not look amused. 

Yup, sonic cannon beats explosive, hands down, thought Dick as his eyes glanced at the shattered debris of metal and stone around him. 

"Oh, yeah, booyah!" said Cyborg with a satisfied smirk, blowing off the steam from his cannon. Beast Boy leapt forward in the form of a vicious green tiger, growling and gnashing his teeth fiercely. Starfire flew forward, her emerald green eyes glowing ominously as she raised her hands in the air; green starbolts at the ready. 

"Where is Slade?" shouted Starfire in a dark, frightening tone. "I shall rip him limb from limb!" 

Raven settled to stand next to the tiger form of Beast Boy. 

"What she said," said Raven in her deadpan tone; lifting her hands and ready to attack as well. 

"You led them here?" asked Slade, looking directly into Dick's masked eyes; his impassive expression obviously showing that he was unaffected by the intrusion, yet he still didn't look pleased. Dick quickly shook his head. 

"N–no... but they sort of followed me..." Dick fidgeted for a moment, biting his lower lip. Then, he whispered so that only Slade could hear him, "They saw me." 

Slade completely ignored the Titans as he stared at Dick. There was a moment where Slade took a deep breath, his eyebrow raising as a slightly surprised light entered his grey blue eye. 

"You ran. Why?" 

Dick wasn't sure what to say. What could he say? No one could understand his feelings. His body had just moved, fleeing in fear from the terrible prospect of explaining everything to his friends. He was close to Slade, but he doubted that Slade could really understand. Words couldn't formulate within Dick's mouth. They were locked away in his heart; sealed from bringing their releasing powers. 

So, he did the only thing he could do: he removed the mask from his eyes. His hand slipped up to the edge of the material and carefully pulled it off. Dick clutched the mask nervously as he stared desperately into Slade's visible grey blue eye; willing the man to understand what he himself couldn't fully understand. 

Dick's eyes were filled with anxiety, fear, hope, and shame. 

There was another moment where Slade stared into his eyes. His eyebrow twitched briefly. Then, the man seemed to avert his eye, before letting out a deep sigh and shaking his head as he folded his arms. 

"I see. You're still going to have to explain this to them," said Slade in an undertone to Dick, although the Titans could still hear him speaking. Dick nodded nervously. 

"I know," answered Dick, taking a deep breath. 

"Robin, what is going on? Why—" Starfire stopped as Dick stepped forward slowly. Each step was heavy as he kept his head down. He had to face them now. There was no going back. They'd never leave him here if they didn't understand. He hadn't turned sides, but he needed them to understand. 

But showing them his face without the mask... That was difficult. But it wasn't fair that Slade knew his identity and his friends didn't. They needed to see him. They needed to see Dick. He needed them to understand that he wasn't Robin now. 

It was now or never. 

Dick stopped. He slowly turned around, keeping his head bowed. Then, still ever so slowly, he lifted his head to look up at his friends. His hands were clutched at his sides, clasping against the taut fabric of his apprentice suit. His shoulders were slightly hunched as he faced them. The group widened their eyes as they saw his unmasked face.