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It’s always the end of the world that is causing the most problems. That might seem obvious, but family drama seems to pop out of the seams during a catastrophic event. Like most end of the world events, it is an aggressive alien planet that wants to dominate a new world. Why they came to Earth? No one knows. By now there should be a intergalactic memo that Earth isn’t to be fucked with.
These specific aliens work best with espionage. They are living among everyone silently, slowly taking power instead of going for the overwhelming wave approach. Which is what brings Jason as the Red Hood to the Watchtower. There are a lot of big guns brought into this mission. Including Deathstroke, who is standing way too close to Dick for Jason’s comfort.
“This is a war,” Batman rallies, “There will be casualties. It can’t be stopped. However, incapacitation should be the first goal. We will capture all of the Hinlankers that we can and try them for intergalactic crimes at the Green Lantern HQ. However, from all of the data that we have gathered these two,” Batman presses a button on the remote on his hand and the picture behind him changes to two normal looking people, “are the leaders of the Hinlankers. They will need to be taken out.”
Batman motions towards John Stewart, who takes a place at the front of the heroes.
“The Hinlankers are a hive mind species. If their king and queen are taken out, they have a sense of free will restored to them until the next king and queen is chosen. Our hope is that if we take out these two, the rest of the Hinlankers will cease their fighting and leave Earth with little resistance.” John clicks the button and a new picture pops up on the screen, showing the Hinlankers anatomy. An area directly above where their belly button is highlighted red. There is another red spot on their face, under their eye, beside their nose. “These two spots hold two vital organs for Hinlankers, similar to their heart and brain. However, unlike humans who need to be taken out in only one of the two organs to die, Hinlankers need to have both organs taken out. Unfortunately, these organs are both fairly small. The aim needs to be pinprick exact in order to take out these organs.”
Wonder Woman speaks up next to John, “Which is where Deathstroke comes into play.” Wonder Woman motions to Deathstroke who is standing with his arms folded in the middle of the room. His mask is hanging off his fingers. There is a wide berth between him and most of the other heroes. “Deathstroke will be taking out the king. However, we will still need someone to take out the queen.”
Various eyes look around the room, several resting on Red Hood. Deathstroke surveys the room and notices the eyes focused on Red Hood. He snorts. “Really, you think Red Hood is going to be able to hit that small of a target?”
“Red Hood has the best accuracy of anyone that is league affiliated.” Batman argues back. “He is the best chance that we have.”
Deathstroke rolls his eyes. “I do have an apprentice, you know.” Deathstroke’s voice is smug, covered in a layer of humor. “Maybe you’ve heard of him. Renegade?”
Jason stiffs slightly, his eyes bouncing from Slade to Dick. It’s a good thing he has his mask on.
“Unfortunately, this is time sensitive and I do not see Renegade here, which means we will have to take what we can get.” Batman glares at Deathstroke, taking a step closer to the table, knocking his fist against it. “Red Hood is more than capable of taking out the queen.”
And damn, Jason has to blink several times in confusion. He never thought that he’d hear his dad be proud about his shooting ability, but here he is.
“Good to know all my work paid off.” Deathstroke laughs deeply, a hollow sounding laugh that bounces around the room, tauntingly, “Renegade is here.”
Batman narrows his eyes. And several of the leaguers gasp, looking around. Deathstroke smirks and walks up behind Dick, putting an arm around his shoulder.
Dick shakes Deathstroke off and takes a step back, his stance widening, looking ready to fight.
“What do you think you’re doing, Deathstroke?” Nightwing growls. He puts his hand on his escrima stick. “I have never worked for you. And I never will.”
If Jason didn’t know the truth, he would believe Nightwing completely. The way his brother’s muscles had tensed and his eyes tracked Deathstroke's movements with a sense of fear behind them.
“Willingly, Little Bird.” Deathstroke steps forward, grabbing Nightwing’s escrima stick as it is swung at Deathstroke. “Now, now. Little Birds should be seen and not heard.”
The change is instant. Nightwing drops his arm. He pulls himself up, straightening his stance. He holds himself completely differently. He puts his arms behind his back and grabs his right wrist with his left hand. Even the cadence of his breathing changes. Jason is sure that if Superman is listening, even the rhythm of Nightwing’s heart would have changed.
“Renegade.” Deathstroke commands, “Give me a status report.”
“Yes, master.” Renegade’s voice is flat, deeper than the tone that Nightwing naturally has. Both his Gotham and Romani accents are gone. “Currently, I am running on 4 hours and 26 minutes of sleep. I have eaten a bowl of lucky charms with a banana for breakfast. I had a protein shake after a two hour workout, then I had a salad with a chicken sandwich. I currently have two broken toes, a sprained ankle, and a fracture in my left hand.”
Slade huffs and grunts, “How did you get these injuries?”
“I miscalculated a jump across a rooftop, which resulted in the two broken toes and the sprained ankle. The fractured wrist is from catching another individual when their grappling hook snapped. Grabbing them puts too much weight on my wrist.” Nightwing says it all matter of factly. He doesn’t have his normal hum or bounce of his body and his eyes aren’t jumping around as he talks. He is completely focused on the report he is giving.
“What did you do?” Batman growls, stalking up to Deathstroke. He grabs Deathstroke by the front of the uniform and pushes him back.
Quicker than Jason can actually make out, Dick sweeps past him. He grabs Batman’s wrist, snapping it back. He twists Batman’s arm around his back while simultaneously, knocking his feet out from under him. In less than 15 seconds, Batman is on the ground with Renegade pressing a knee into his back, a gun cocked and pointed at his head.
And where the fuck did he get a gun?
Jason pats his holsters on his legs, his right one is empty. Jason looks from his leg to the gun in Dick’s hands. “How the fuck did he do that?”
Deathstroke chuckles as Dick looks up from Batman to him. “Master?”
“Let him up, Renegade. He won’t try that again, I’m sure.” Deathstroke is smug as he crosses his arms, looking down at Batman, silently challenging the other man.
Smoothly, Renegade lifts himself off of Batman and moves to Deathstroke’s side.
“You see Batman, you’ve been letting his talent go to waste. Look how quickly he took you down. All the potential he has.” Deathstroke circles Renegade. His hand trails across Renegade’s back. “He is the perfect weapon and neither of you knew it. I’m sure Nightwing has his suspicions, but nothing he can prove. I’ve been training him since he was 18.” Deathstroke stops next to Renegade, resting his hand on the young man’s shoulder. Deathstroke smirks. “I’ve perfected him.”
“However,” Deathstroke says with a shrug, “There are a few things I was never able to quite break. Watch.” Deathstroke looks at Renegade. “How many brothers does Nightwing have?”
“Two.” Renegade immediately responds.
“Who are they?”
“Red Hood and Robin.”
“What are their civilian identities?”
Renegade doesn’t respond.
“See, I asked something that I already know the answer to, obviously. I could ask him to peel his mask off right now and he would, however, somewhere along the lines, he built a wall inside his mind, protecting the superhero community. It’s quite fascinating.”
“Now watch this, I think you’ll really appreciate it, Batman.” Deathstroke smirks at Batman, all teeth, before he asks Renegade. “How many children does Bruce Wayne have?”
“Two.”
Deathstroke watches as Batman’s resolve crumbles ever so slightly. “Name them.”
“Jason Todd-Wayne, deceased. Timothy Drake-Wayne.”
“Thank you, Renegade. Now isn’t that just fascinating, Batman.” Deathstroke drops his hand from Renegade and takes a step in front of Renegade. “What do you think of that?”
Batman remains silent, seething. Deathstroke smiles and claps his hands together. “Well, then, I do believe that we have some people to kill or would you like a demonstration of Renegade's skills? I’d be happy to show you. If you’d like, I could even find our old training videos.” Deathstroke cocks his head in a teasing motion. “Oh, it took some time, but eventually Renegade was able to train without complaints and understood what failure would get him. Missing a target by even a hair was unacceptable.” Deathstroke holds up a finger, gesturing for everyone to wait one moment. “Renegade, what is acceptable?”
“Perfection.” Renegade responds evenly, no tone of emotion left in his voice. “Anything less is a failure. Failure is not accepted.”
Deathstroke takes a deep breath in, reveling in the words. His smile widens wickedly, “And what happens to failures?”
“Failures are rewarded with pain. Pain should be either welcomed or ignored. It is another tool to learn.”
“What would you do if I were to punish you, right now, Renegade?” Several leaguers make motions to stop Deathstroke, grabbing weapons, stepping forward, but all of them freeze as Renegade's cold cadence fills the room.
“I would thank you. You would be correcting my failures, bettering me.”
Deathstroke revels in the sound of the leaguers gasps, several of their breaths stutter.
“Exactly. Now, since you seem perfectly broken, I think it is time for Renegade and I to take out our targets. Don’t worry. We won’t miss.” Deathstroke strides out of the room, Renegade a perfect step behind. Over his shoulder, Deathstroke hollers, “Don’t worry, I’ll drop Nightwing off later and you can spend hours undoing the brainwashing. I’ll just build it back up later.”
The zeta tube announces the pair's departure. And all of the heroes are left gaping.
Batman is the first to break. “Everyone else already knows their positions, go.” No one immediately moves. Batman repeats himself, hitting the table. “Go!”
Jason strides up to Batman before he leaves the room and hisses, “I hope you’re happy, because whatever the fuck that was is on you. You were supposed to protect him and he doesn’t even think he’s your kid. I hope you feel pretty fucking good about yourself.”