This fic is in response to dlsky's challenge to 'make slade the good guy.' I can see now that it will be extremely difficult to keep him in character, but hey, I'll try. Everyone else is doing a really awesome job at this, I just got the green light to start last night, so here it goes!

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

The night air was crisp and cool in jump city, a sharp contrast to the heat that usually engulfed the huge city during the day, a palled moon hung rigidly over

the dead frames of the buildings, in fact, you might say the entire city was completely and utterly deceased, except for a single cave. A cave might seem like an odd

place to hang out to most people, but 'most people' have probably never been in one. They are dark and subtle, barely touching the earth, and lingering eternally as

if in some other dimension, endearing, but filled with demons. Slade Wilson often pondered these things while staring at the empty mildewed walls that he ruled over,

eternally sipping a bottomless cup of tea, and plotting forever against the rest of the world, only Wintergreen, bothering him, or the stone statue of the Markov girl

peacefully staring into space. In fact, February 11th seemed not to be any different, but you could call it the beginning of the fall of the empire, if you were some

corny sci-fi producer. What it really was was a cool winter night where nothing was any more than trivial. Trivial…

It was a normal night. I was alone with my own mind again. I didn't mind though. It had proved more than once to be a worthy companion more than once

in the many years I have been alive. Wintergreen stood in the corner, a distant look on his face, absentmindedly smoking a cigar. I had seen him more than once like

this in the past few weeks. I was slightly worried, or the closest a deadly psychopath could come to being worried. Neither of us smoked that often, it wasn't as if

either of us had much to lose, but we never did. We both, literally, had all the time in the world. Maybe I was just going soft; I don't normally show any kind of

compassion towards friends. Wintergreen, I did not really consider my friend, more of an acquaintance, both of us drawn together by a very unlikely scenario.

Wintergreen, obviously, had been contemplating some of the same things as me, yet had neither the countenance to speak for more than seven seconds without

becoming wary of the person whom he was talking too, or bored with them. For people who weren't really friends, we both thought alike. Wintergreen exhaled,

letting out a lonely puff of smoke from between his slightly parted lips, blocking out the dull light of the one TV screen I had left on. Just another ordinary night.

500,000 miles away: Remote Antarctic facility

"The whole operation is set up, I double checked everything, I don't think anything will go wrong." A skinny girl stood in front of the woman in charge,

breathing heavily as sweat poured thinly in a sheer layer over her frizzy brunette hair, nervous green eyes peering cautiously through the huge holes in her glasses.

"You forgot one thing." The girl's already huge eyes widened. "Wh-at what did I forget I-I know I got everything." The girl frantically flipped through the large stack

of papers that she balanced almost acrobatically, scanning over each one for a few seconds. Suddenly the pile fell to the floor. The girl bent over to pick them up, a

thin finger shot down, grabbing her chin with lightning reflexes and pulling it up to the ladies level. "When you address me, refer to me as madam, or mistress, never

nothing, I am not an inanimate object Kerri." Kerri stuttered slightly, and let out a nervous giggle. "I'm very sorry ma'am it's just that." The lady spoke. "In my days

in the army, misconduct was not tolerated. People were often killed for misbehavior where I come from."

"I'm very sorry…"

"Ma'am."

"Ma'am, but this prospect is really"

"Interesting. Yes. That might be the only thing I ever agree with you on at my… somewhat short stay here. Hopefully we are both very clear on this Miss

Wyles."

"Crystal." The lady finally seemed to notice the scattered papers on the floor. She bent over slowly and picked one up, observing it, a slow, malevolent

smile slowly etching over her stony face. "You might pick these up, deadline is in four hours." The lady walked away silently, and the girl quickly picking up the

scattered papers, and adjusting her comm. Link, so she could hear nothing. "Four hours." She whispered into the small piece, she listened for a reply, her ears

being met by the sound of static. The girl stood and briskly walked away.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

WOW! That has to be the longest chapter I've ever written.For a person used to helping their friend write about kamikaze turtles, this is pretty OK, no? Am I laying on the vocabulary too thick here. I'd really appreciate your opinion. Please review!