"Well. You seem to agree that Armin is worthless." Slade said as he glanced back at the boy as Cap was about to leave.
"Worthless? I only said that he's weak. Physically. In case you haven't realized, he isn't exactly..."
"One who survived a giant fall off a cliff that otherwise would have killed him." Slade cut in. "How about this... why don't you... someone who's been in his shoes... go off and change him? Because right now, mark my words, he's the type of person who would either get us all killed or be a detriment at a fatal moment, and that I cannot have."
"You almost act like you care for everyone else. You call him a detriment yet you aren't even a team player. How about this? I'll spend some time with him, and mark my words, I promise he'll be able to handle himself."
"And if he can't?"
"Then probably your "prediction." We all die." Steve replied coldly.
[11:30 PM, Local time]
She was always more active in the night than in the day, and on this cold night, there would be no exception. Sitting down on a rock outside, Sanya sat still, listening once again as the voices made themselves heard.
"Kalumun rem kreh kru wah mii. Mu naram ko mul naal sul ahrk naal tokaan."
"Vrah, dii jun, til los atruk kosil dii hah Zu'u kent ofun."
"Tinvaak."
"Zu'u nis saag nii enshar fah nii aal jeopardize un mein nuz aal Zu'u sent voth daar rut fid tir lith... buld vuldiik?"
"As hi lig, dii shir fahdon. Dreh daar ned jul?"
"Geh."
What did it mean?! What did it mean?! That was the only thing that Sanya could think about as she spent her third time listening to the voices. The dragons. If only she understood dragon... if only she understood dragon...
"Hey kid. What are you doing?"
Sanya's skeleton almost jumped out of it's skin though she made barely any indication of her suprise. She turned around to see that it was just Slade. Nothing more.
"How did you do that?"
"Get the jump on you even with your enhanced hearing? It's something I learned back when I was still a kid." Slade replied. "Now then, you listening again?"
"Yes. I can hear them... the only problem is..."
"You don't speak dragon. And the one dragon in town doesn't speak dragon either."
"Yes. I can listen to their conversations, but I need to understand what they are saying if..."
"I know. Listening to the enemy is worthless if you can't make sense to what they're actually saying. I think we should try to fix this."
"How so? You can't possibly learn an entire language in time to make a difference can you?"
Slade smiled to himself and pointed at his head.
"90% kid. 90%. Now what do you think we'll need and where do you think we'll get it?"
"Well... Twilight told me that she really liked books and has an extensive collection in her home which is actually the town library."
"Good. Then I think I'll be headed there." Slade replied. "You want to come?"
"Slade. It's almost midnight."
"And I should care... why?"
She had nothing, only shrugged a bit and went off with him in the direction of ponyville.
It's past midnight. And you're sleeping peacefully in your bed, just frolicking in dreamland when you hear a loud knock coming from the recesses of your mind. Normally, you just groan and moan for a bit, maybe toss and turn and go back to sleep. Problem was, the knock was getting louder. And louder. And louder. Until it felt like whoever was knocking might end up smashing the door down. That would be the scenario of both Twilight and Spike that night.
"Ugh.... what time is it?" Twilight mumbled to herself as she in her dazed state hobbled over to the door. She opened it to find Slade, causing her to jump back in shock over the fact that when one considered his occupation, how he currently was dressed (armed and armored to the teeth) and the time of the day (or in this case, night) most people would end panicking.
"Hey, Light Sparkler. You don't look too bright this evening."
"What are you doing here?!" Twilight shouted indignantly. "It's past midnight."
"We're actually here for a book."
"We?" Spike asked.
"Yes... I am here too..." Sanya said as she slipped in like cat through a window. "We need a book."
"A BOOK?!" Twilight asked, her mood all of a sudden turning rather bright as Slade would describe. "Why didn't you say so?! Come right on in! Can I get you anything? Coffee? Maybe some appl..."
"Just the book." Slade said. "So... we've been listening a bit to some conversations the dragons were having. But you already know that right? Unfortunately, our resident dragon here doesn't know dragon so we were hoping you could get us a book that could somehow teach us the dragon language."
"Oh..." Twilight began. "Well... I did some research actually... and umm... you might not like this."
"Lemee guess. You don't have the book."
"Well... that's right... but for another... it's not that. Most dragons speak our language now but have a certain dialect... or accent as you might call it. What those dragons are speaking. Is ANCIENT DRAGON. It's over 2,000 years old by estimate of Princess Celestia."
"Great. So I take it we're not going to be learning that language any time soon?" Slade replied.
"Now, now. I never said that. I can actually think of a couple places where they actually might have books on the language. Canterlot and the Crystal Empire."
"Crystal Empire?" Slade echoed.
"It's a long story."
"In that case, I simply don't have the time. I am heading to Canterlot. Now."
"Wait hold on a minute... you should maybe wait till morning or something..."
"No."
"Okay. At least take this map..." Twilight said as she turned around to go grab one. When she turned around however...
Slade was gone.
"Where did he go?!" Spike asked with disbelief. "I just turned for a moment and he's gone!"
Twilight took a look around. Then looked at Spike, then Sanya, and then the map. No one saw him as much as move, and now Slade had disappeared.
"Here..." Twilight said as she handed Sanya a few bits. "There are still some late night trains... and maybe you can hitch a ride..."
"Thank you." Sanya said as she walked outside. The cool air pleasantly hung around for the duration of the night.
Slade perched a top the tree as he made his way up the mountain, taking a look around, it didn't look like there was another soul for miles. He activated his tactical vision just to be sure, and it was just as he expected. Not a soul in perhaps miles. Time alone. Alone.
He considered taking this time to reflect on himself, but ended up passing up the opportunity when he passed a cave.
Caves, like most things with Slade, he was indifferent with them. But when he walked straight by the mouth, a flock of bats flew out, reminding him of someone he knew. He chuckled to himself as he recalled their encounters, almost wishing for a moment that maybe the whole experience would be more tolerable if that star-spangled man was replaced with his old friend. After all, under that mask that struck terror in all the thugs in Gotham, that man was somehow the closest and most distant comparison Slade could ever find to himself.
But forget that. Right now, as he listened to the sounds of the tracks and the whistle. He had a train to catch.