Chapter 6

(S???? W????? PoV)





Starting from scratch was an arduous path. It meant working from the ground up from nothing particularly special. To handle the rawest materials and turn them into something usable.

Despite knowing the massive time sink and possible consequences, I proceeded forward. Since the dawn of humanity tools have been crafted out of materials. From sharpening bits of stone, to the casting of guns. The only difference between this and that, is simply the amount of time and resources spent.

Fortunately, the majority of the time needed had already passed, as they were nurtured from a young age unknown to even me. And when I even knew of their existence, their mother had already passed away. Leaving them with foster parents.

Despite being a rather raw material, I had certain expectations from them. They had the blood of a government super soldier project running in them after all. Which would increase the odds of them being a rather useful tool.

But there was a problem.

They had a rather connected relationship with their family. It was rather obvious that there was a bond of love that was reciprocated between them and their parents. Which served to weaken them. Allowing them to become more relaxed. Soft.

But I didn’t need soft or relaxed. I needed a tool.

So, I had Wintergreen dispatch a rather poor but still somewhat trained assassin to take care of her family. Instructing him to kill them in front of her slowly before moving on to her. He did so with limited success.

Obviously, he had some problems understanding even the simplest of orders, as he killed them both in about five minutes before moving on to her. Something that forced my hand to act immediately after the fact. At the very least he did succeed in leaving the girl traumatized, though that was the bare minimum even expected.

After knocking out the pair of them, I brought them both back to a close by hideout. Upon her waking up, I told her the truth. A certain version of it, anyway. Before reminding her of her foster parents that had passed away in front of her. Killed in a gruesome manner.

Almost immediately she grasped onto me. Becoming emotionally dependant in a matter of seconds. Which while not the ideal situation, it was definitely a positive one for me. I could use this.

Then of course I showed her to the assassin who had killed her parents. One that I had taken the liberty of disarming and tying up. And then I offered her one of my sidearms.

My eyes narrowed as she refused it. For a second I thought she had been a mistake, before she gestured towards the sword. She wanted to have it be slow. Much like what her parents went through.

…I could work with that.

Almost immediately I could tell her aptitude with a weapon was lacking. The way she was holding it betrayed her incompetence. Still, at the very least she didn’t even seem to struggle to hold it.

She didn’t hesitate after her first strike. It was only after the man woke up and started to scream did she pause. A few seconds of considering her situation before looking back at me for support. More than a bit disappointing, but I gave a nod nonetheless.

And then she continued to go at him.

It was quite evident that she had no prior knowledge to torturing or killing. As she simply cut off body parts haphazardly as she attempted to make it as painful as possible for the assassin. After about ten minutes of this, he finally expired from bloodloss.

Despite this, she continued to keep going for a few minutes, before finally realizing he had passed away. It was this moment I chose to applaud her. Give her some words of affirmation before finally beginning to mold her into the tool I needed her to be.

She was weak. Pathetic. Almost every training session in the beginning saw her crying about it at some point. At first I had attempted to console her, before deciding that simply made the problem worse. As she thought it was acceptable to just give up.

So then I simply started to beat her when she did so. Forcing her to get up and deal with it or take even more injuries.

It took a bit, but this finally worked. Which allowed me to start with one of the last pieces of the puzzle. I started to inject her with an edited version of the serum I had taken so long ago. Increasing her abilities and heightening her senses. But instead of it being permanent, it was only temporary. Having to dose her in order to get used to her newfound powers.

This was simply another way to tie her to me. To make sure that she was as loyal as possible.

Things had gone well after that. Her training increased by leaps and bounds as she adsorbed information like a sponge. Her newfound strength, speed, stamina, and healing factor were quickly gotten used to.

Her marksmanship ability as well as her ability to fight with blades was decent. It didn’t exceed my expectations, but it wasn’t as terrible as I prepared for. And her loyalty to me seemed practically unshakable. Though her constant desire to impress and gain some worthless words of affection had gotten exceedingly annoying.

I quickly learned that I had messed up earlier. That I had been too lenient far earlier, which allowed her to show this emotional side to me. And no matter how hard I attempted to beat it out of her, all it would do was shift how she’d attempt to do it.

It was a flaw, but a small one that could be ignored for results.

Unfortunately, there was a flaw that couldn’t be easily ignored. A few weeks after her first several doses, she began to act irrationally. Instead of simply staying quiet, she started to talk. Not to me, but to her original mother and foster parents that had passed away.

Then there were occasions where she had trouble sleeping. Showing a decrease in her combat effectiveness and in training. She also showed less interest in showering and bathing after training. Having to be explicitly instructed by me to even do so.

I finally drew the line at target practice. At first, I thought her aim had just gotten worse, but in truth she was shooting at targets that weren’t even there. Leaving me to investigate the problem.

After a brief period of experimentation, I learned that these brief moments of psychosis were caused by constant use of serum. Which was…not ideal.

Not in the least.

Despite several flaws popping up, I decided to persevere. I had already spent so much time and effort into this project, I didn’t want it all to go to waste. Not until my hand was forced.

Finally, the time came for her to start raking in cash for me by doing jobs. Small fry stuff, but still hard enough to give her a challenge. After taking the job and breaking into a secured mansion in order to assassinate her mark, she caught him completely unaware.

She had the drop on him. Immediately pinning him to the floor before taking his life in one simple movement. For a brief moment, I found myself almost impressed.

But then she hesitated. No, it was much worse. Hesitation could be easily fixed. Instead of killing the mark, she instead fled. Running off into the night as he sounded the alarm.

I was now forced to make a decision. Obviously, something had gone wrong. Perhaps it had been something I did, or perhaps the material had been faulty before I had even started to work on it. Regardless, she was failure.

As I pondered on what to do after her, she had arrived back at the hideout. Begging for forgiveness and mercy. Things I wasn’t in the habit of giving out. As I had made the decision to take her life myself, she had already moved.

But instead of attacking me, she attacked herself. Gouging out her own eye in agony before proclaiming her loyalty. How she wouldn’t betray me again. How next time she wouldn’t be so weak.

Despite having my doubts, I decided to give her one last try. Having the will to gouge out her own eye was no easy feat, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but doubt her words. If she hesitated to kill once, it was possible that she would do the same a second time.

Before I could dwell any longer on my unfortunate situation, I had gotten a personal call, and was hired to do a job. It wasn’t something I normally did, but the price tag and the employer weren’t the type of people that were easy to say no to.

There was a group of teens who fancied themselves the next Justice League. I was to deal with according to the instructions given. Leading me to test the waters first with pawns. First the stupid earth elemental, then the symbiote, and then finally the students from H.I.V.E.

While my current apprentice had been wary of the first two, she finally spoke out when I met with the team from H.I.V.E. Believing that I was trying to find a replacement for her, she challenged them to a fight.

It was an interesting idea, but unfortunately there was no talent at H.I.V.E. that interested me. None of them showed any real promise. It was easy to see that the majority were only threats in groups to make up for their individual weakness.

And then their skirmish with the fledgling team of heroes happened, and opened my eyes. The children on average had a much higher potential than most of the students at H.I.V.E. But that wasn’t enough to really get my attention.

No, what got my attention was one specific child in particular.

Robin. The sidekick of Batman himself. His moves were exemplary. His tactics and quick wit were hard to match. His ferocity and unwavering will were all rather impressive qualities, leaving me to wonder…

“…Tch, he fights like a complete rookie.”

My apprentice commented behind me in distaste. While she was indeed stronger currently than the young Robin, he was definitely much better than a mere ‘rookie’. She was downplaying him severely.

At his age, she hadn’t even been any close to that level of power. Perhaps it was due to training her so late, but even then, there was potential in Robin that wasn’t in her.

“…Wintergreen?”

He spoke his opinion.

“The boy is exceptional.”

“Tsk!”

My apprentice loudly clicked her tongue, showing dissatisfaction. Crossing her arms before turning her body away.

I nodded at Wintergreen’s words.

“Yes…he’s quite impressive.”

Almost immediately my apprentice’s eyes widen in alarm. Perhaps becoming scared of her position of my apprentice once more.

And for once, she had a good reason to be.

“If you want someone to take out those heroes, just send me. I could easily-“

“No.”

I cut her off. Not even sparring her a look as I continued to watch the young boy wonder. Yes…he was aggressive, angry, but his emotions were mostly contained. He could be calculating. Cold.

He would make an exceptional tool.

It would take some time to mold him, but it would be time well spent. And it was time that didn’t even begin to compare to starting from scratch.

I would have to thank Batman afterwards for handing me such a valuable apprentice on a silver platter. I informed Wintergreen to hold off the next stage in order for me to start planning a different strategy. One that included a more personal hand in Robin’s affairs.

As Wintergreen retreated away, my apprentice spoke up.

“…Dad, I-”

“Leave.”

I commanded her. Already recognizing that pathetic emotional tone she had decided to take. I ignored how her hands shook before finally following my command. At the very least she could still do that.

Now, where should I start with the Boy Wonder…