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Dad Lore Chapter 17 - Leaving the Island
🕑 Added 2025-06-23 10:35:29 +0000 UTCTaro felt lighter after his talk with Talia. Lighter not in the sense that he lost weight – that would be a real tragedy – but in the sense that...okay maybe he didn’t really know what why but that was how he felt.
It felt like talking with a stranger that you haven’t met for a long time. It was disconcerting until you found out that you actually had a lot to talk about.
Talking with her put a lot into perspective, one that he had never been able to identify with back then and even until recently.
Hearing it from Talia’s own mouth and not having only his memory to go off on, he still failed to see in what part someone might have seen a father figure – past him was a menace in more ways that one, especially in combat and more so in training – but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Last thing he wanted was to have a rematch with Talia.
Everything was good and all so far but that just continued to set him off. He was in the heart of the League of Assassins and they didn’t really do emotional reunion. The fact that he had one already had his senses tingling.
And the worst part was that he couldn’t really call himself paranoid for thinking that Ra’s somehow had his grubby mitts on it. The man was as manipulative as a house cat on his best and worst days. He really had to leave.
Wu-San, David and Deathstroke were still on the island and he had yet to see them and that wasn't exactly a coincidence to him. The fact that Ra’s easily postponed their chat only served to show that the man had a plan to keep him for a while at the island but that unfortunately wasn’t in Taro’s schedule.
As far as the simple shopkeeper was concerned, he was running late on time to pick up his ward and that was even more important than anything else Ra’s had in mind.
As so with his priorities set straight, he marched back to Ra’s brooding corner and walked in without knocking only to find Ra’s in conversation with David Cain.
“The sight of you remains unsightly.” David said the moment he saw him.
Taro shrugged. “The fact that you hate it only makes me happier.”
David Cain seemingly ignored him while also keeping an eye on every part of him as he came closer. It said a lot that even while the man was heavily wary of him, he couldn’t do or say anything even as Taro came in close distance to him.
He tried to make his presence small and forgettable but Taro spared him a look that said ‘really?’. If Taro could ignore his presence then Taro would have considered it a net positive, but alas nothing in his life came that easy.
“Back so soon? How was the sightseeing?” Ra’s started but unlike an hour ago, Taro wasn’t in the mood to accommodate him.
“I’m leaving.” Taro said without any preamble. David Cain shifted again which prompted another look from Taro. ‘Seriously, stop trying.’ His new look seemed to say.
The look in Ra’s eyes changed. Yeah, that wasn’t a good thing. Well, nothing about Ra’s could be considered ‘good’ but that look wasn’t winning anyone any points.
“And what brought this on?” The man asked as if he didn’t effectively kidnap the poor shopkeeper and flew him across the ocean to this nondescript island.
The man was so good with his tricks that sometimes he didn’t even bother hiding it because he was so self-assured it wouldn’t fail to hook you up. The thing with Talia and Damian wasn’t exactly subtle.
Taro might not be one for the subtle intricate plays that came with manipulation but he wasn’t so stupid as not to realize when someone was trying to probe a reaction out of him.
“Why did you bring me here?” Taro asked instead, looking straight at Ra’s and giving David the respite he so wanted by just ignoring the man’s general direction.
“You came up on my radar and I didn’t want you crawling back to your hole and disappearing again for years.” Ra’s answered, staring severely at Taro.
But Taro wasn’t buying that, too expensive for shitty quality. “You could have simply kept an eye on me instead of forcing my hand to return.”
Even with Taro’s distaste for David Cain, men like the three of them regarded each other with a level of respect and despite whatever Taro might have done in the past, that did not warrant Ra’s hunting him down like he did. Ra’s wouldn’t try something like that with David, much less Taro. But then he did, so maybe he was cutting Ra’s too much slack. Maybe not.
David’s hands were already getting twitchy but neither men paid attention to him. Both Taro and Ra’s were more interested in coming out on top of their current staring contest than whatever David was doing in his corner.
“The League of Assassins needs you back, Assassin.” Ra’s started by saying.
“The League of Assassins doesn’t need anyone, except its Head. No matter who they are.” Taro refuted. ‘Ah, shit.’ He thought belatedly as he saw the approving light in Ra’s eyes.
He circled back his mistake by quickly adding, “all I want is to leave. I don’t really care about whatever it is you’re trying to skin, Ra’s.”
Well, he did say Ra’s was good at this probing tactics and it seemed as if Ra’s already succeeded in drawing the interest he needed from him.
“And that is where you’ll be wrong, Taro. The League’s needs are its Head’s desires. And you’re here because I desire you to be.”
While he was absolutely sure he wouldn’t be dipping his toes in whatever waters Ra’s was currently wading in, he couldn’t deny his curiosity. Something had made the Demon Head agitated and he wanted to know what, if only so he could copy its techniques to use against the man later on.
On a serious note, the fact that Ra’s had not only Talia and Deathstroke with him but also Wu-San and David Cain in one place was not a good sign and Taro had realized that immediately. First he had thought they were for him – that did something to his shriveled up ego – but turns out he wasn’t the reason why – cue his ego shrinking back.
“The League of Assassins is being targeted.” Ra’s revealed.
“By the League, you mean its Head.” A small imperceptible frown came on Taro's face.
He didn’t care about Ra’s semi-immortal life being threatened, it was long overdue in his books. What made him frown was that the leadership of the League was being threatened and if it fell, the League itself would splinter apart into groups. He could already see who the groups would belong to, three groups in particular, and the damned man decided to bring him back at the worst time possible.
“I would say good riddance but that would be jinxing them, whoever they are.” He said, ignoring how the smile on Ra’s face grew. He still hasn’t forgotten Ra’s comment about him being the Head if he killed him.
The fact that he had already promised Talia and her son his protection, for whatever it was worth, also seemed to play into Ra’s plans. Respect. He could hardly bring himself to hate on how good a master planner the man was.
“I need my Assassin back, Taro.” Ra’s said, ignoring his little jab.
“Sorry, he is on sabbatical. And also he’s had a change of occupation.”
“A clean slate.”
“What?”
“A clean slate.” Ra’s repeated. Ah, there it was. The bait on one hook that Ra’s was about to cast. Annoyingly the man knew how to choose prime bait.
“After this it ends, you will have my word on it.” Ra’s eyes never left Taro’s. Both men, one aged and the other one imperceptibly older, gauged the other’s reaction with a critical eye.
“As long as I live, the Assassin will no longer be bound to the League. No debts will be held.”
“And for that, I’ll have to kill your enemies, am I right?”
“I did not call the Assassin back to my den to show my hospitality.” Ra’s retorted calmly. The dark lighting of the room propped up the dreary ambience of the room up to a new level as both men stared at each other, never once breaking eye contact.
“I am not your Assassin any longer, Ra’s.” Taro said not missing a beat. He knew this song and dance. It never ended with one favor. The fact that he was back again at the very place he ran from spoke louder than anything else. It never ended with just one job. And besides, he was a shopkeeper these days. “I just told you, I’m leaving.”
He knew. They both knew. The yarn Ra’s was spinning had a few strings around him, one he could tug on anytime he wanted, but they also knew which one of them truly held the knife.
In the end Ra’s sighed. “If only it were that simple.” He muttered.
Both men were staring at the other through a mirror but the reflections they both saw were different.
Taro turned around to leave. He’d already spent enough time as is on this forsaken island. The only good thing about this impromptu trip had been his conversation with Talia. And probably her son too.
“You’re leaving.” Not sooner had he distanced himself from Ra’s than she appeared.
“Wu-San.”
“You’re leaving.” She repeated.
“Yes, I am.”
“I see then.” And then she turned around to leave, leaving Taro confused. This was why he never liked interacting with her.
“Is that all?” He found himself asking. Despite everything, she was the only one he didn’t outright resent in this place. He had his own issues with her but they were for entirely different reasons.
If nothing else, she had always treated him with respect, even when they fought.
“Yes. It is a shame but not one worth mulling about. I’m sure our paths will cross again, Sakamoto-dono.”
At least it wasn’t something entirely crazy. With a lady like Wu-San someone could never know.
He grimaced as he thought of another thing. He had been another to sneak off with one of the smaller biplanes like he had done the last time but then…maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea.
He wasn’t still treading on glass around the whole thing but he figured getting on Talia’s bad said again wasn’t worth it. There was still a lot of awkwardness around them and pulling a smoky retreat was perhaps not the best course of action this time around.
“I figured you won’t be staying long.” Talia had cut him off at a corner and the read on her body was carefully guarded.
“Mn.”
They both fell silent after that, the awkwardness came in with the subtlety of an assassin-in-training.
“Feel free to drop by anytime you’re around, don’t be a stranger.” He ended up saying.
“I might.” If that was the best he could get for them then he would take it. It was already better than anything he could think of.
“That girl,” Talia started, “you’re looking after her?” He nodded. He wasn’t sure why she was asking but then again it wasn’t as if it was a secret.
“I see then. Till next time, old teacher.” She turned around and walked away.
“I’m not that old.” Taro muttered to himself and trudged away. Despite everything here, his thoughts still remained with Raven and the more time he spent here the more the more he felt worried.
He knew she was safe, she was with the heroes, but bodily harm was the least type of harm he was worried about coming to her.
He wasn’t blind to the fact that she has been fighting a mental/soul battle for quite a while now, which she admitted to him. And Raven wasn’t the most emotionally stable child around. He had no idea how she would react to the heroes’ prodding in ways she didn’t know how to respond to.
To be perfectly honest, most of his fears were irrational… but that didn’t matter when he remembered the last look they traded.
Kicking the plane into ignition he did not trade a last look at the island before flying off. His short visit to the island didn’t give him any respite but instead saddled him with new complications.
The fact that Ra’s was being hunted was startling but if Ra’s was being hunted so was Talia and her son. And if that were the case then he was completely certain that the man had a few schemes in place. As for whether those schemes involved him in any way remained to be seen, but for Ra’s sake he hoped the man wouldn’t attempt to even tip close to the line, talk less of cross it.
“I want to go home.” He sighed to himself. He thought about all the sales he could have made but had missed because of him running across the country.
.
……..
.
Raven sat cross-legged in the small room she was given as she focused on her meditation. The room was sparse, almost empty even, aside from the small bed and desk that were in it.
Even from the confines of her new accommodation, she could still feel the measured presence around her if she stretched her senses out but she refrained from doing so. It wouldn’t benefit her in any way and instead add more to her mental baggage.
The heroes had been positively accommodating and eager in response to her plight which was more than she could ask for and while they discussed amongst themselves, she delved back into her mind to fight her preemptive battle.
Trigon had infiltrated behind her mental shields and that was bad as bad could get. She couldn’t even feel safe in her own body.
Perceptibly, and not for the first time, her thoughts drifted towards a certain someone and she immediately clamped down on the emotional outburst they would have come from that memory.
But it was hard. Whether it was because of how jumbled up her thoughts have been lately or her mentally constrained she had been, but it was getting hard for her to completely shut them out.
And here reared the head of one of the worst parts about being Raven; she couldn’t even admit the tiny little thing she got going on in that heart of hers.
Admitting it once meant admitting for a long time over, and unfortunately for her, that was a luxury Raven could never afford. Ever.
You try too much.
And yet it was still too little. Because if she’d tried a little bit harder. Tried something a little bit different, then maybe he’d still…
She stopped herself before her thoughts spiraled into a wave she couldn’t hope to control. At this point she was tired, but like everything else in her life, being tired was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
But as she kept herself in meditation, slowly that she failed to notice, she was lulled into a deep sleep.
The shadows in her room flickered unnaturally, as if trying to warn her or trying to push her deeper into her slumber.
We’ll be seeing each other soon, dear daughter.
Comments
Walrus
You fucking tease. I need more.
