a demonstration

Slade relishes this moment of finally achieving what he’s sought for so very long. His perfectly obedient apprentice, completely liberated from all distractions. No home, no friends, no free will. Difficult conquests, one would think, but Terra had handed each of them over into his waiting palm so readily. She’d wanted this, begged for him to teach her to control herself, and ever the charitable mentor, he’d done it. And then, she had the audacity to spit in the face of all the gifts he had given her, to try and run from the place at his side that she had surrendered everything for, that she had chosen. Evidently, Terra couldn’t be trusted with choice anymore, but then, as the Titans would agree, she couldn’t be trusted with much of anything.

Ah, the Titans. Their survival puts a damper on things, but that won’t continue much longer. He will succeed where Terra had failed. He’ll start with her little boyfriend, who has so politely delivered himself directly into Slade’s maw. Annihilating him before her very eyes, with her own hands, seems like a fitting way to crush whatever pitiful remains of Terra’s spirit are still left. At the very least, it will be fun. Unfortunately, even with his doom moments away, trapped with nowhere to run, the boy’s own spirits still refuse to dwindle.

“Don’t listen to him, Terra! You’re stronger than him! You’re stronger than all of this! You can still do the right thing!” Foolish, but even now he believes it, despite her pathetic sniveling giving away for all to see exactly how strong Terra is. But no matter, Slade has more than enough resolve for both of them.

“I’m afraid not, my boy,” he says, guiding Terra closer to their prey with a lazy sweep of the arm. This requires no urgency. “My control over my apprentice is absolute, and that’s exactly what she asked for.”

The boy bears his teeth, still animalistic even in human form. “You’re wrong! She still has a choice! Terra, you have to stop this!”

Terra responds, of course, still weighed down by those pitiful attachments of hers, but Slade doesn’t catch it, single eye still fixated on the struggling beast child. He’s really just about had it with the brat putting ideas back into Terra’s head that he’s worked very hard to grind to dust under his boot.

“You doubt my control?” he asks, head tilting slightly. “Well, perhaps a demonstration is in order, then. Congratulations, boy, you’ve bought yourself another few minutes of clinging to your pathetic excuse for a life.” Finally, his eye swivels back to its true target. “Terra, come,” he orders. Even though he doesn’t need to use words to make her do his bidding ever again, he still enjoys doing so.

She makes her way back to his side, back to where she belongs, on the shaking legs of an infant. Once she stops resisting, her movements will regain their former fluidity, but for now, she wobbles. He extends a hand when she at last arrives, taking a moment to comb his fingers through the tangled locks of her hair. Then he gets back to business, seizing her jaw and tilting her chin up until she has no choice but to lock eyes with him. The boy protests this, and Slade ignores him, just as he ignores all irrelevant things. “How about you, Terra? Do you doubt my control?” Wiser than her little friend, she doesn’t answer, just wordlessly trembles, fresh tears streaking down her cheeks. Good. “Kneel.” And she does. “Excellent, Terra. Now then, remove my belt.”

She chokes on air, gaping up at him with something akin to horror, even as her quivering hands move to complete the task. “W-what? Slade—” The boy agrees with her reaction, and Slade is beginning to ponder if Robin is truly the Titan with the worst anger issues. “Slade, I can’t—”

Honestly, he’s growing a bit tired of her dramatics. There’s a time and a place. Crushing the last hopes of their captive before they finish him off is not it. “Hush, child. It’s nothing you haven’t done before.”

“What?!” shrieks Terra’s little pet, and if Slade’s honest with himself, it’s a bit cathartic.

Her cheeks burn, but he gets the feeling it’s more humiliation than it is anything else. “But not— Please, please Slade, don’t. Not— not in front of—”

He has missed the sound of her begging, hasn’t heard it in some time, but he does not share her weaknesses, and he will not let sentiment sway him from his goals. “I’m not going to do anything, my dear. You are.” He pauses, and still the charitable mentor, gives her one last moment to get all the feeble sobbing out of her system, swiping a thumb across her cheek to collect the tears that have gathered there. “Now, open your mouth.”