Heir

Two months have passed since Jordan used his disguise of the Red Hood to get closer to Slade. Unbeknownst to him, his plan failed and helped Slade assess how useful of an apprentice he would be. Now, Jordan wakes up in an unknown rocky terrain. He looks around and sees no one. He stands up, but immediately turns around when he hears a familiar voice.

"It seems that you have finally woken up, my apprentice," said Slade.

"Slade? Where are we? Why are we here?" asked Jordan.

"Enough with the questions. Let's go for a run," said Slade.

Slade runs away from his apprentice and the student follows his master.

"Come back!" exclaimed Jordan.

Slade doesn't listen and continues to run. As the apprentice and master run, they jump over obstacles and jump to different areas of the terrain. Once they both reach a new area, Slade seemingly disappears. Jordan looks around and doesn't see Slade until he walks from behind a large rock.

"That was very dangerous, Jordan. You must want to be my apprentice," said Slade.

"I don't want to work with or for you. I want to take you down once and for all," said Jordan.

"How can you stop me if you don't know what I'm planning?" asked Slade.

"Like this," said Jordan.

Jordan tries to kick the mercenary, but he easily dodges the leg. He then tries to punch Slade, but he only hits the rock. Jordan jumps into the sky and tries to kick Slade, but he just ducks to dodge the attack. Slade tries to punch Jordan multiple times, but Jordan dodges the punches. Jordan tries to punch Slade, but the mercenary grabs his fist and throws him into a large rock, but Jordan uses the rock to propel himself towards his enemy. Jordan tries to kick and punch Slade, but he dodges and he hits the rocks instead. Jordan tries to punch Slade multiple times, but just gets knocked away. Jordan pulls out two claws and throws them at Slade, but Slade smacks them away into the rocks, destroying them.

"Excellent work. It seems that we are evenly matched and evenly ruthless. It makes sense because we are very similar," said Slade.

"Don't talk like that. I'm nothing like you," said Jordan.

"Don't lie to yourself. We act the same. We just see the world in a different light," said Slade.

"I said I'm nothing like you!" exclaimed Jordan.

Jordan right hooks the mercenary so hard that he nearly breaks his mask. The mercenary falls to the ground and Jordan walks up to him and grabs him by his neck.

"You're a criminal and a psychopath. All you care about is destruction," said Jordan.

"All you care about is destroyed by your hands. Jason, Barbara, those kids in that bus. Who will be next?" said Slade.

"Shut up! Now, let me see your scarred face," said Jordan.

Jordan rips off his mask and sees that Slade's face is his. The evil Jordan starts to laugh as the good Jordan backs away.

"I told you that we were very similar, Jordan," said Slade.

"No!" exclaimed Jordan.

Back in the real world, Jordan wakes up in a sweat at his workbench. He looks at the time and sees that he has been asleep for a while.

"I have that dream every time. Why is that?" thought Jordan.

"Yo, Jordan," said Cyborg.

Jordan turns around and sees Cyborg standing in the doorway to his room.

"What is it?" asked Jordan.

"He's attacking again," said Cyborg.

"Who?" asked Jordan.

"Slade of course. I thought you would know," said Cyborg.

"I just wished that he chose to attack on a Monday. I like to enjoy the weekends," said Jordan.

"There's no time to dilly dally. Get up and meet us in the living room. He's contacting us," said Cyborg.

"I'll be there in a minute," said Jordan.

"Are you ok? You're sweating," said Cyborg.

"It's just hot in here," said Jordan.

"It's December," said Cyborg.

"The heat must be up very high. Someone needs to turn it down," said Jordan.

"It's only at 75," said Cyborg.

"You know what. Let's go to the living room. I don't want to turn into a sweat monster," said Jordan.

Jordan gets up from his chair and follows Cyborg into the living room. He then sees Slade on the monitor.

"Good morning, Titans. I hope that I didn't wake you up," said Slade.

"Why is he calling so early? Is he an insomniac or something?" asked Beast Boy.

"What do you want?" asked Jordan.

"That's what you need to find out. Even with all of your effort, you still don't know anything. That's disappointing. I thought higher of you," said Slade.

"Why would I care what you want to think?" asked Jordan.

"If you can't find out my plan, I'll just reveal it. I know that you all are familiar with the term Chroniton Detonator," said Slade.

"Oh no," said Cyborg.

"Not one of those," said Starfire.

"Yeah, not one of those. What is that?" said Beast Boy.

"It destroys all Chronitons in an area, utterly destroying the temporary composition of the space-time continuum," said Starfire.

"I'm still confused," said Beast Boy.

"It stops time permanently," said Raven.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Beast Boy.

"If he triggers that thing downtown, he will freeze the entire city," said Cyborg.

"Tell me where," said Jordan.

"You're a clever boy, Jordan. You and your little friends can figure it out. Time is not on your side because I can detonate it at any time. Happy hunting, Titans," said Slade.

"Fan out. Find it. Shut it down," said Jordan.

"Maybe you should just stay here and coordinate the search. You would be more useful here," said Beast Boy.

"What are you trying to say?" asked Jordan.

"When it comes to Slade, you do a little too much investigating. You should just stay here and let us handle this," said Cyborg.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing while the whole city is at risk of being frozen in time. I'm fine to deal with this bastard," said Jordan.

"How are we going to find him if we don't know where he is?" asked Raven.

"He's at Pier 41," said Jordan.

"How do you know that?" asked Raven.

"I saw the reflection in the window. Let's get there before it's too late," said Jordan.

Ten minutes pass. The Titans arrive at Pier 41 and Cyborg blasts open the entrance with his sonic cannon. The Titans enter the warehouse and see nothing there but a few boxes.

"It's empty," said Starfire.

"No way," said Cyborg.

"His goons are here. I can smell them," said Jordan.

"How can you smell robots?" asked Beast Boy.

"They smell like ass and sweat," said Jordan.

The goons stop cloaking themselves and appear all around the warehouse.

"I knew that I smelled them. Titans, go!" said Jordan.

Even though it is supposed to be a team effort, Jordan goes crazy. He easily destroys his share of Slade bots then quickly destroys Cyborg's, Raven's, Starfire's, and Beast Boy's share as well. The other Titans just watch in fear and amazement. It only takes Jordan a few minutes to destroy all of the Slade bots.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? I defeated the bots," said Jordan.

"It would have been better if you had let us help," said Cyborg.

"We can't hold back and 'work together'. Slade has his finger on the trigger and the only thing that we have is his metallic goons. We have to go now," said Jordan.

Jordan and the other Titans quickly walk out of the warehouse. They stop outside of the warehouse because they don't know where to go.

"So, we knew that the Chroniton detonator was here, but how can we find where Slade took it?" asked Cyborg.

"We should split up and look for it," said Beast Boy.

"We would find nothing that way," said Raven.

"Raven is right. We have to find a way to track that detonator," said Starfire.

"Maybe we can track Slade's footprints or fingerprints?" asked Cyborg.

"That wouldn't work. Slade would just lead us into a trap. We have to find another way," said Jordan.

"Maybe that guy knows something," said Beast Boy.

Jordan turns his head and sees a pier employee walking along the pier. Jordan runs after him and the pier employee starts running.

"Wait! I just wanna talk!" exclaimed Jordan.

The pier employee keeps on running even though he isn't in danger. Jordan speeds up and grabs the employee.

"Why are you running?" asked Jordan.

"Please don't hurt me. I didn't do anything wrong," said the pier employee.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanna know something. What do you know about Slade?" said Jordan.

"Who's that?" asked the pier employee.

"You're not lying. Get out of here. It's not safe," said Jordan.

"Ok," said the pier employee.

The pier employee runs off as the other Titans walk up to Jordan.

"Did he say anything?" asked Cyborg.

"No. He's clean," said Jordan.

"So, we still have no clues? Great," said Beast Boy.

"Eh. Eh. Ah-Choo!" said Starfire.

Starfire sneezes and releases toxic snot and nearly melts Jordan's head.

"What was that?" asked Jordan.

"Excuse me. I'm allergic to metallic chromium. There must be a source nearby," said Starfire.

"I think that we have a lead," said Jordan.

"What do you mean?" asked Starfire.

"The core of a Chroniton Detonator is made out of a metallic chromium. We can use your allergies to track it," said Jordan.

"We can?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah, but please sneeze in the direction of inanimate objects. I don't want to die yet," said Jordan.

Five minutes pass. The Titans reach a tunnel and Starfire sneezes once more and creates an entrance. They enter the tunnel and walk through it until they see a boat and a Slade bot hopping into the boat.

"There it is. Titans, go!" said Jordan.

The Titans start to run after the boat until Cinderblock busts through the wall and grabs Jordan's arm.

"Phoenix!" exclaimed the Titans.

"Don't worry about me. I'll deal with this guy. You guys go get the detonator!" said Jordan.

"Alright. You all heard the man. Let's blitz," said Cyborg.

The Titans run after the detonator as Starfire takes one more look at her friend.

"Hurry up, Star! We have a city to save!" exclaimed Cyborg.

"I'm coming!" exclaimed Starfire.

"So, Slade hired you again huh? Why?" asked Jordan.

Cinderblock doesn't respond because he can't talk.

"If you're not going to answer by speaking, I guess that I will just have to use my hands," said Jordan.

Cinderblock charges towards the young hero and tries to punch him, but Jordan jumps over him. Cinderblock tries to kick Jordan without turning around, but Jordan easily dodges the stone leg.

"This palace has pillars, so I don't need to beat him. He can beat himself," thought Jordan.

Jordan runs towards the pillars and hops one of them. Cinderblock charges at the and breaks it with his head while Jordan hops to another one. Cinderblock charges at the next pillar and breaks it as well while Jordan jumps to another pillar once again. Jordan repeats this process a few more times until Cinderblock is kind of dazed.

"That didn't work, but this should," thought Jordan.

Jordan looks up and sees the ceiling crack. As Cinderblock runs towards Jordan, he is hit in the head by a piece of the ceiling. The ceiling starts to rain down and Jordan uses his cape to block the debris from crushing him. A minute passes before the ceiling stops falling. Jordan lets go of his cape and sees that Cinderblock is defeated and lying on the ground. He walks over to him and sees a tracker in his hand.

"This is such a trap, but I have no choice," said Jordan.

Jordan grabs the tracker and exits the destroyed room. He walks through the tunnels for a couple minutes until he reaches a wall. He places an explosive on the wall and blows it up.

"You need to hire some maids. This place stinks," said Jordan.

"Jordan, I have been expecting you for some time. I was wondering if Cinderblock was too much for you. You must be looking for the trigger. Here it is," said Slade.

"If you want it, come and take it," said Slade.

"I will," said Jordan.

As Slade places the trigger on the ground, Jordan charges at him. The criminal mastermind and hero trade blows in the hideout, but Slade barely breaks a sweat. He dominates the battle. He is fighting a child after all. After beating him down he just throws Jordan in a random direction like he is some trash. Jordan slams his fist on the cold ground in frustration.

"I understand your frustration, Jordan. You hate losing just like me," said Slade.

"We're nothing alike," said Jordan.

"You may say that, but we share many qualities. We're both leaders, geniuses, skilled fighters, winners that hate losers, strong, brave, wise. You are my spitting image," said Slade.

"Shut up," said Jordan.

"Am I getting into your head? Are my words changing your perception? Are you finally believing the truth?" asked Slade.

"I said shut up!" exclaimed Jordan.

Jordan jumps up and uppercuts Slade. He then roundhouse kicks him and punches him in the face, sending him falling back. Jordan then proceeds to punch Slade multiple times, cracking his mask every time. After enough punches, Slade falls back and Jordan runs up to the trigger. He grabs the trigger and looks at it.

"It's over, Slade," said Jordan.

"On the contrary, Jordan, the fun is just getting started," said Slade.

The trigger explodes in Jordan's hand and his calm expression becomes shocked.

"Where's the real trigger?" asked Jordan.

"Trigger? There was no trigger because there was no detonator," said Slade.

"This wasn't just a trap. Every part of tonight was a trap," said Jordan.

"You are correct. You are a smart kid after all," said Slade.

"If there was no trigger or detonator, what was this trap's purpose?" asked Jordan.

"This," said Slade.

Slade pulls out a remote and presses it. Four recordings appear on the giant screen. Each one with the name of Jordan's friends.

"What is this?' asked Jordan.

"Nanobots that are in your friends' systems. The Chronitonic Detonator was just the bait to get these little guys in your friends. With just a push of a button, your friends will be destroyed from the inside out," said Slade.

"Are you trying to control them? It won't work. They will never listen to you," said Jordan.

"I don't care about your friends, Jordan. It has always been about you. Only you. I've been leaving you cryptic clues and challenges to see if you were worthy and you are. I want you to be the heir to the throne of Slade Wilson. More specifically, the next Deathstroke. Congratulations. You have been chosen," said Slade.

"You must be crazier than you already are if you believe that I would work for you," said Jordan.

"Do you want your friends to die?" asked Slade.

"You're just bluffing. You just want to mess with my head," said Jordan.

"Do I? I have no problem with killing children. I already blew up a school bus full of them," said Slade.

"It was you that day. Not the clown," said Jordan.

"Exactly, Jordan. It was always me. I've been always watching you and now you're ready to become my heir. I will train you, feed you, teach you, but you can never talk to your friends again. If you do or refuse any order I give you, I will kill them. Do you understand?" said Slade.

"Yes, my master," said Jordan.

"You already understand your situation. Good. Now, suit up. It's time for the little bird to fly," said Slade.