Stange fear
Slade looked out of the penthouse window onto the golden sunset of metropolis city. It truly was quite a sight to see. The different shades of orange, yellow and blue that blended together made to sky almost look magical. Well it would to most others, but Slade had seen real magic and real beauty, and while this sunset was lovely, it was no where near the most magnificent thing he had ever laid eyes on.
He took a step back from the window and walked toward the oak brown desk in the middle of the penthouse suite’s office. On the table lay a high tech looking gun. He had seen and used many different kinds of guns, but none quite like this one.
It was the same size as an average riffle, but thicker. It had wires and screens sticking out at odd angles in a sort of aganized chaos.
Slade had acquired it while on a contract by an anonymous employer to steal it from what he had thought to be low level scientists who were working out of their home basement. Cute couple, they were dead now. No witnesses and all that.
He began to think about how much easier this job would have been had he still had his apprentice, renegade. Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson, the original boy wonder, now going by Nightwing. Slade had had him in his grasp for only two short months before his teammates had come to his aid.
Of course he had tried again and again to recruit him back over the years but to no aveil. He had had to admit that Richard would never willingly be his apprentice again. He could always hold his friends hostage again, but his ultimate goal of making him his successor would never come to be, as the moment his friends were out of danger, he would leave.
It would be so much easier if he was still a child, they are so much more impressionable, so much easier to control.
He can’t help but think upon the what ifs, of his time with his apprentice. What if he hadn’t sent Richard after his friends and had, instead, kept him a secret for longer, given himself more time to mould him before his friends were able to discover the nano bots? What if he had had more time to condition him so that he wouldn’t even hesitate to do Slade’s bidding?
The what ifs matter not, he decides. Nightwing will never be his and he has to except that.
He brings his attention back to the gun on his desk. He has never been one to ask questions about the contracts he completes, especially not one with such a hefty pay check, but his curiosity seems to have been piqued by the unknowns of the supposed weapon.
Slade picks it up and balances his had on the trigger. The weight is all over the place due to the bulky screens and wires. He aims the muzzle at a pen pot on the desk and shoots.
The pen pot disappears. It doesn’t turn to dust or disintegrate, it just disappears.
“Huh,” Slade mutters aloud.
One of the many screens light up and writing black writing suddenly pops up in the center of it. ‘Successfully sent to earth 616’. ‘Bring back?’. Next to the second sentence are a small green tick and a red x. Slade clicks the green tick and just a sudden had it disappeared, it returns to the exact same place on the oak brown desk.
Now this gun has his complete and undivided attention. He isn’t due to drop it off at designated spot for another 26 hours. He wonders if this gun will work on people? He wonders if it really is doing what he thinks it is. Now, Slade is in no shape or form, a stupid man. He isn’t going to test his theory using himself as a Guinea pig.
So, he calls room service to the penthouse suit and orders a bottle of the house wine. Five minutes later he’s opening his door and asking the room service staff into his suit and asking for her to set the bottle and glass down on the small table next to the large white couch.
When the woman steps into the room with her back facing him, he immediately seizes the opportunity as pulls out the gun from behind his back and shoot is directly at hers.
He doesn’t even hear her gasp before she has disappeared. He quickly presses the green tick on the screen to bring her back. She re-appears in the exact same place as before, and turns around to face him with a disheveled and confused look on her face.
“W-wha-,” she begins, but Slade cuts her off.
“What did you see?” He demands in a menacing tone.
“I-I think it was New York, but also not New York?” She asks more than says, “I’ve been to New York, my sister lives there, and there were buildings that definitely weren’t supposed to be there, but I only got a glimpse so I’m not to sure, what- what was that?”
“You have been most helpful, thank you,” Slade says as he ushers her out the room.
“But-“
“That will be all,” He shuts the door.
He looks at the gun and smiles. This Richard may never be his, but maybe there is one in this ‘earth 616’ that can be. Slade walks over to his room and packs his gear into a bag, he then picks the gun back up and points the muzzle to his own chest.
As he pulls the trigger, he is momentarily blinded in his one eye by a bright flash of white light. The light quickly subsides and he is left holding the gun and bag in the middle of what seems to be New York city, just like the woman said. Also like the woman said, there is a large eye sore of a tower in the middle of the city that defiantly should not be there. He can’t be sure his theory is correct but it is looking pretty likely.
Slade knows the city like the back of his hand, and despite the minor discrepancies, he is able to quickly locate a library. He pays no mind to the workers as he makes a bee line toward the computers. If they require any kind of guest or admin log in, it matters not to him as a library computer is a walk in to park for him.
As he hacks his way in, he notices it has much better security than a library computer should, nothing he can’t get past but also nothing a library computer should have. He takes note of the make, ‘Stark tech’. It must be unique to this world. Perhaps this worlds technology is more advanced than that of his home world’s.
The first thing Slade looks up is the name ‘Richard Grayson. He finds an article about a young Richard Grayson whitesesing his parents fall to their death during the family’s trapeze act, just like on his earth, but as Slade looks into the police and social service files, he realizes that Richard was taken in by the Parker family, not Wayne. As he check it out, he realizes that billionaire Bruce Wayne and Wayne industries do not even exist, and, much to his shock, neither does Batman.
As he digs deeper, he comes to realize that none of the heros of his world exist In this one. He decides that he will come back to that later and goes back to Richard Parker, only to realize that him, along with his wife had passed away in a plane crash around sixteen years ago.
The online article says that the Parker passed away in the plane crash, leaving behind their [Redacted]. Strange. What did they leave behind? Slade begins to look into Richards adopted brother, Ben Parker. Dead. This article says, Ben Parker was shot dead outside a convenience store in front of [Redacted]. Redacted, again? Who was there that night, maybe this is the same person what that the Parkers left behind.
The then looks into Ben’s wife, May Parker, also deceased. This world seems to have to out for the Parker. The obituary for May Parker says she was killed in a bombing of her apartment, beloved, daughter, wife and [Redacted]. Ok that does help somewhat. What is the last word? Mother? Sister? Aunt? Wait the Parker left behind someone that was important enough to be mentioned in the news report about their deaths.
Ben Parker was shot in front of someone that was probably out with him. May Parker is missing one last title on her grave. Slade understands now. The Parkers had child. And someone has gone to great lengths to make it seem as though they didn’t. If this is the child of Richard Grayson, wether it’s his earths or not, that means that this child has the potential to be something great, with Slade’s guidance of course, and who would Slade be to not find this kid and bring him back to his earth so he may unlock his true potential. And if Slade gets an apprentice out of it, then that’s just an added bonus, right?