Forgotten Bonds

Epilogue - A New Beginning

March 30th, 2009. Monday, 7:47 am. 

The morning was bright and cheery as Slade sat at the kitchen table, waiting for his fourteen—wait, now fifteen year old son to emerge from his room. The two of them had spent the past week trying to decide the schedule that should be followed. There had been much debate, but Dick had been pretty good through it all. The decision came that he would spend the weekends and Wednesdays at the haunt, while the other days, he'd spend the nights at Titans Tower. Slade was adamant that the boy stayed at least four nights a week here and Dick hadn't put up too much of a fuss. 

Slade was never going to admit that he couldn't bear the boy away for longer than that. 

They also worked out a training and studying schedule that included ample amount of hours for spending time with his friends and, of course, it was flexible for whenever trouble arose in the city – which there was no doubt that it would. Slade insisted that he have a communicator should anything go wrong. Not to mention so that he could keep track of the boy, but he didn't reveal that. Dick had teased him about being overly worried about him and had received a firm, yet playful swat for his cheekiness. 

Slade honestly had nothing else to do but worry about his trouble attracting son. 

He could already predict endless amounts of heart attacks in his future. Such things would no doubt... asphyxiate normal humans, but luckily Slade was immortal. Perhaps it was a good thing he already had white hair. He wasn't sure how long he could survive this child, but it certainly wasn't going to be boring – that's for sure. 

Oh... Life was going to be anything but boring. 

Suddenly, Dick darted out of the hallway and into the kitchen; skidding to a halt. His black hair was spiked back and he was completely dressed in a Kevlar suit; his domino mask in his hand. Slade raised his eyebrow. He hadn't seen this one before. Dick had said that he was working on a new suit. Slade was certainly impressed with it. 

While it was still in those same traffic light colors the boy loved so much, the material was scaled like Slade's suit. It also had thin, black armor plating; very similar to the kind that Slade had on his own suit and in the same places. He wore the usual bright yellow utility belt that he used to wear and his old black cape that was made out of high density polymerized titanium. The new design completely said 'Robin', but it also had a splash of 'Slade' within. 

Slade brought his cup of coffee to his lips in the attempt to hide the oncoming smile that threatened to break out across his face. 

"Child!" cried Wintergreen, waving his spatula at Dick. "Don't come in here like a tornado." 

Dick giggled and quickly sat down at the table, placing his mask on the surface; his bright crystal eyes sparking with mischievousness. This only made Wintergreen more indignant over the boy. The old man put his hands on his hips and shot Dick a stern look. 

"Now, listen here, Richard. I don't want you rushing in here like this," scolded Wintergreen. "This is a kitchen, not a highway." 

"Yes, Will," said Dick cheekily, bouncing somewhat in his seat as a mischievous grin spread through his features. Wintergreen sighed in exasperation before turning back to making breakfast. Dick quickly put a hand to his mouth and let out a few soft snickers. It took all of Slade's self control not to snort into chuckles himself. 

"So, big day today, hm?" said Slade with a smile, setting his cup down. Dick beamed, absolutely to near glowing. Slade briefly wondered where he had placed the sunglasses.