Slade's Tale

Alexnandru Van Gordon

(Still in the dark mind…) You know what, last time I forgot to wrap up my chapter with an author's note. Oh well, I guess you guys get bored of me talking all the time. Don't be afraid to tell me.

Important: This is another side chapter because there's such a long pause in the season when Terra comes and goes. He goes back to Miss Lovell for a little revenge and this will be a bit…well…not as gory as the "cut-off-the-fingers" gig—but you will get to see some Russian roulette if you know what that is. I'll explain it in the story, so don't worry if you have no idea what RR is—He he he—just wait and see…

DISCLAIMER: Nope—I own the idea of Lovell, but nothing else besides that…except for the plot…but that pretty much sucks…

CHAPTER NINE: Failure

—"I am well aware of what you are capable of doing with failures and I do not intend to join that list of unfortunates…"—(Miss Lovell)

Gotham…rainy again. If crime wasn't high enough, the weather thought to play a little game on the many inhabitants of the poor city. It was pouring cats and dogs when he arrived, but it didn't bother him too much. He had a bone to pick with Lovell.

It wasn't that she had failed him…entirely, but the idea was to get the girl (Terra) to join him. Instead, she ran. That was partially Robin's fault, and although that would work to Slade's advantage, he was running thin on the one thing he was well-known for—patience. Terra's running away was a great set-back in his plans and he wasn't about to chase her down. That would scare the girl further, and there really wasn't much blackmail to hold against the girl. She had seen the worst so far and didn't stay around long enough anywhere to make friends.

A loner was always harder to manipulate than someone who hung around his or her loved ones all the time.

Not surprisingly enough, Miss Lovell was not home when Slade 'dropped by'. She was either at the hospital, finally getting surgery on her knee, or somewhere out on a job. Although she wasn't a mercenary or an ace shot, she loved what she did and had a tendency to watch her boys at work and sometimes joined in on the fun when she knew she wouldn't be a hindrance. She was supposed to be a fair thief too, but the damage done to her leg would be a set-back until it healed, and that—not doubt—was an annoyance on her part.

Strange enough, it didn't take long for Slade to find her. He heard the gunshots and a man yelling out an order. Standing on a high roof, looking down he could see someone on the roof nearby. It was a story lower than the one he was standing on and the jump wasn't that far, and the person should have been able to escape their pursuer if they had something like a grappling hook.

Slade looked closer…the one being chased had a small limp…

Lovell.

Interested, he watched as she spun around, cane in hand. She wore a soaking wet trench coat and a drenched, wide-brimmed hat to keep the rain out of her eyes, her cane so far her only weapon. Her pursuer was not a cop, but a man dressed entirely in black—no doubt another thief. If the two of them were not careful, the caped crusader would drop by soon and spoil all the fun…

The man had something of a short sword in his right hand, a dagger in the left. He was a martial artist, no doubt, and high above Lovell's league. Not only was her knee keeping her back, but she was little too slow with her blocks and caught a few slashes across the arms. Then, when the man was pushed back far enough to give her time, she pulled her cane in half—showing it to be a hidden sword. She took a couple of stabs at the man, but failed to do any real damage before he caught her already gimp knee with his dagger. She screamed and fell to the knee, her sword and cane sheath dropped to the ground as her hands hovered around the wound. She was hesitating between the urge to pull it out or apply pressure.

Before she could decide, the man kicked her in the face and she fell onto her back. Turning on her side in agony, the man raised his blade and prepared to make a clean kill—

Bang!

There was a small yelp from Miss Lovell when the dead man fell atop of her, and she had difficulty pushing his much larger body off her own small figure as shock set in. Slade had already taken a long run and jump to land on the same roof as her, and stood looking down at her as she pushed the man aside. The new wound in her leg wasn't too bad—the blade probably missed the bone, catching her in the hamstring vertically, close to the flesh. How the man had gotten the blade in at such an odd angle was slightly impressing, but who cared? He was dead.

"You…" Lovell said. Her voice had a slight quiver, but it was more so from the pain in her leg rather than fear. She wasn't easy to scare. "Why are you here?"

Hands shaky, she applied pressure to her leg, hands covered in blood. She pulled out some things from her pocket and started working on it, obviously having experience with such a wound.

"There's a problem."

Her hands slow, still shaky…before she shook her head and continued. Her eyes remained focused on the wound. "So? Are you going to shoot me, or are you going to watch me bleed to death? You're choice."

"You won't bleed to death…unless in the future." Slade opened his revolver and emptied the cylinder of all bullets, holding one in his hand. "I am upset—you do realize that, don't you?"

"Yes…So what are you going to do about it?"

"We are going to play a little game of Russian roulette. I assume you know what that is…" He placed the single bullet back inside and smiled behind his mask.

She looked up from her work and stared at the gun, eyes narrowing into a frown. "My father used to scare me half to death when he did that. Of course I know what that stupid game is—you keep one bullet in the cylinder, spin it, aim it at your head—and pray to God that the good lord doesn't consider this as suicide. And if you lived you can joke and say to a buddy—you're turn." She looked at the gun and sighed. "I guess it's fair."

"Indeed. I could have shot you instead or let that man kill you, but I decided that you're brave—and you have resources. This is as good as any chance I'm giving you to live."

"And if I get an empty shot?"

"Then we keep taking turns until one of us ends up with a bullet in the head."

That stopped her in her tracks… "You do realize there's a good chance that you'll die—I mean…you're not exactly the type of guy to strive for something for so long and then end your life with a stupid game."

He spun the cylinder and raised it to his head—

Click!

Then held it out to her. "You're turn."

Her eyes were wider and she hesitated…then, slowly she reached out and took the gun, staring at it for the long of times before she whispered a small prayer and closed her eyes. "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae…Amen." Then in one quick motion she had the barrel to her temple—

(Translation: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death…Amen.)

Click!

Opening her eyes, she sighed and frowned at Slade as she tossed the revolver back to him. "You're turn."

He gave a small laugh, looking down at the girl as she ignored her leg wound. She was still shaky, and Slade bet a bit of fear was the cause of that now. She was actually quite brave to try such a thing. There was no doubt she would have nightmares about it for a while now, but she knew the consequence of failure—she knew her job was going to be a tough one. Having her father chopped up when he headed the family business should have been enough of a clue to inform her of the danger. It was her fault for taking his place.

He raised the gun—

Bang!

The sound echoed for the longest of times and Slade had to laugh again. The look on her face was priceless—it was worth the shot.

"I knew about the rumors…" She whispered. "But…it's hard to believe that immortals really walk among the men…"

"My powers grow the more I use them." He said, and lowered the gun from his temple. It hurt…but not as much as he expected it to. It would take a while to rid his head of the bullet, having it cut through the mask on one side but failing to exit on the other side—and he deserved it for picking the game.

It was still fun…

Miss Lovell took off her hat and turned her face away from him as she began to vomit. He waited patiently until she was finished, watching as she tossed the hat away and wiped her mouth on the back of her coat sleeve. It was an old jacket anyway.

"I really hate you…" She muttered with venom in her voice as he knelt down to pick her up. "You do know that—don't you?"

"You're not the first to admit it."

-break-

The hospital asked too many questions—especially how come a girl kept coming back with such injuries. First a bullet and then a dagger—what side of town did she live on, and how the heck did she make it to a payphone to call for an ambulance.

Slade watched from a safe distance, knowing that Miss Lovell would have rather bled to death than see another doctor. She was afraid of them and would risk her life—but Slade still needed her. He sure as heck wasn't going to chase down Terra—keeping Terra in one spot was her job.

He waited until she was brought back home, her cane returned to her by her brother Matthew. The boy was the first person Slade ran into when he snuck inside—and he was a little impressed that they boy caught him. But Matthew was not in his kamikaze mood and didn't say a word as he led Slade to a room on the second floor. It was a dark bedroom—and sure enough, Miss Lovell sat at the desk, writing something down in her book.

"Did you get what you were looking for that one night?"

She didn't look at him, but gave a small wave of her hand to acknowledge his presence. Matthew followed him in and sat on the bed, slightly frowning. There was no doubt he heard about the Russian roulette game Slade played with his older sister a few nights back.

"Batman dropped in and my men had to scram." Then she grinned, sparing a quick glance at her brother. "The guy gave Matthew a couple of bruises—didn't he, Mat?"

Matthew grumbled something and crossed his arms, not in the best of moods this night.

"What can I do for you?" Miss Lovell continued, still writing. "I'm sure you're not here to say goodbye."

Hands behind his back, he gave a small laugh mentally. He was smiling behind his mask, glad she cut to the business. "Terra—I want you to re-direct her to Jump City."

"Alright—where is she now?"

"New York."

Miss Lovell paused. "In this amount of time? For a girl who causes master destruction, I thought she would have had enough brains not to take a plane."

"She walked."

"Oh…" She continued. "Well, then—you can expect her soon. Just hold tight and tell me where you want to deliver."

"Jump City."

"With the Teen Titans?"

"Of course…" Then his eye narrowed in curiousity. "Why do you ask?"

Finished with her work, she placed down her pen and turned in her seat to face him. "The news might have nothing on the topic, but I have men in JC. Someone saw Robin double-crossing his friends to work for you…but he wasn't…was he?"

A reminder of his failure—how lovely.

"Blackmail." He said nonchalantly. "I had him for a while and he was stuck."

"And then he escaped."

He frowned. "What of it? We all mistakes, do we not?"

"Yes! Yes!" She waved her hand in irritation. "Of course I know that—I owe you for not killing me this time, so I thought I'd offer you the chance to get something else on the boy. It's obvious that you're not too upset about losing Terra; otherwise you would have let me die on the roof. But Robin is quite the assassin-to-be, isn't he?"

Indeed—it wasn't like he hadn't thought of that himself. He didn't like mind readers…but he entertained the idea of having Robin back. It was something nestled in the back of his mind (along with that damn bullet) and it would be so sweet to see the torment on Robin's face as he went through the ordeal a second time, this time without hope for escape. Then Slade would have what he truly wanted.

He almost said yes but held his tongue. Failure was one thing—but depending on another person to correct one's mistakes was only another sign of weakness. If he was going to get Robin back, he'd do it the long hard way on his own.

"Perhaps another time, Miss Lovell." He said at last. "But it's about time I return to Jump City."

"Then I will keep in contact with you." She sighed. "I'll call you when she's on her way."

He turned to leave, satisfied with the answer…but stopped in the doorway and turned to see her again. "I admire bravery, Miss Lovell. The next time you fail, I think another game of Russian roulette would be nice to play, don't you think?"

Lovell's eyes narrowed in annoyance, but the ends of her lips curled up slightly. "Indeed, indeed. But next time we'll play my father's way."

"How's that?"

Matthew grinned. "Two bullets, sir…but you have only to shoot once."

Slade smiled. "Miss Lovell and I play until the bullet is shot."

The look on Matthew's face was interesting. Obviously his older sister didn't mention that part.

"Goodbye, Slade."

"Goodbye, Miss Lovell."

-A-

No—there is no romance between the two. She's sixteen and he's…old enough to be my dad. But I hope you guys enjoyed this little peck. I promised someone I would update Slade's Tale, and so I did.

He he he—has anyone else here actually played Russian roulette besides me?

Until Again,

Alexnandru Van Gordon

PS: And no—I haven't actually played Russian roulette. I've only seen it being played…and I still think those guys are as lucky as hell not to get a shot in the head.