The Concierge of Crime
Summary: The Court of Owls thought they could use her as their puppet but she escaped. Remaking herself into a completely different person, Mary Grayson wages war on them, as a criminal mastermind, if only she could avoid the Titans as much as the Court.
The Name
Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson sat in the chair, gazing out of the window, glancing up at Titans Tower. She always did like the view, it was symbolic, the city's protectors were always watching over her. If only they weren't, they were inadvertently making things difficult for her.
A young black teen walked into the room. He was her assistant; he helped her keep track of all her vast criminal enterprises. His name was Dembe.
"Mrs. Reddington, it seems that the weapons shipment hit a snag," Dembe informed her.
"A snag?" she raised her eyebrow at him.
"The Teen Titans, apparently, the client received the weapons, but the teen heroes confiscated it."
"Not my problem, I did my job; it's not my fault they can't deal with five superheroes. Besides, it takes all the heat off me, after all, I just brokered the deal, those weren't my weapons. They belong to the Royal Flush Gang; they decided to sell them to Jump City's Tiger Sharks."
"Elizabeth, Mr. Slade Wilson is here to see you," Dembe looked over at her.
"Deathstroke, interesting, did he say why?"
"Said he wanted a job, should I send him away?"
"No, no of course not! Let him in and I'll talk to him, it's not every day I get a call from the infamous Deathstroke the Terminator."
Slade stepped into the room, taking in the sight of the notorious Concierge of Crime. She was beautiful, had dark brown hair and green eyes. The clothes she wore were the best money could buy. She seemed confident and at ease, but he knew she was dangerous. After all, you didn't gain a wide reputation among criminals by being polite. She knew how to fight, and he could tell that from her physical build. She was athletic and used to a lot of physical activity.
He thought it was interesting that she stuck to low level crime, sure there was illegal arms dealing, counterfeiting, smuggling drugs, but she always made money by negotiating for other people, it was a clever way to stay under the radar of law enforcement, and the Titans.
"Would you like some wine?" she offered him a drink.
"Of course," he replied, accepting the offer. He took a sip. She certainly did have fine taste he'd give her that.
"I had hoped you'd hire me for the job Red," he greeted her in a friendly tone.
"What job Slade, I don't have anything that needs your set of skills."
"I've heard rumors you're looking for someone, and if the Concierge of Crime is looking for someone then it must be pretty big."
"You're rather overqualified for the job Deathstroke," Elizabeth glanced over at him. Still, he was a criminal, and she could use that to her advantage.
"Really, perhaps we could help each other out then, I'm in need of a great deal of money and you want to find someone." Slade crossed his arms. He knew she had a fortune and it would serve him well to take a few side jobs.
He did find her to be intriguing. All sorts of rumors swirled around her. The most fascinating one was that she came back from the dead.
Elizabeth "Red" Reddington. Supposedly she'd been murdered by a mobster, managed to cheat death to come back to take her revenge. As interesting as that story was, the truth seemed far more complicated than a simple revenge story.
"Still—I don't know, hiring you isn't necessarily in my best interests, you see—the Titans follow you everywhere and I'd prefer not to deal with them if I can help it."
He nodded. "Yes, they are a problem, but I have so many plans, they never can figure out which one I'm going to carry out."
"I do think I'll hire you, you are the best at what you do, and this job would probably kill normal people."
"I see," Slade nodded. "Who do you want me to kill?"
"I don't want you to kill anyone—unnecessarily. But I do want you to find me a name."
"Is finding a name so dangerous?" Slade asked, interested in this new job.
Mary placed a photo down in front of him. "See that one? It's the Grandmaster of the Court of Owls."
She recited the well known rhyme."Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."
"It's a silly nursery rhyme, nothing more."
"Then what is this photo I've shown you? No Slade, they're real, and I want to find them."
"For business purposes?"
"Personal reasons," she told him. "Find me the name of the Grandmaster and I'll pay you whatever you want."
"Deal, I'll be back with the information. Red, it's nice doing business with you." Slade turned and left.
Mary glanced down at the photo, speaking to the faces she saw.
"Yes, and I'm going to win this war. The Court of Owls will lose, with you and your shortsighted brethren watching safely from a distant hill. Why? Because as bad as you thinkI am, as far as you think I'm willing to go to protect that which I hold most dear—you can't fathom how deep that well of mine truly goes."
Samantha Vanover let out a terrified scream as a gangster brandished his gun in her face. She'd been carjacked and desperately hoped she could get away.
Suddenly, someone grabbed the man and yanked him out of the car. She could see a robotic hand reaching out to her.
"Don't worry Ma'am," Cyborg called to her. "You're safe now!"
Raven threw another thug across the road. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and slammed another gangster into the pavement.
Robin launched his grapple gun and pulled the final man off his feet and grabbed him by the throat, slamming him into the car.
"You hijacked military weapons earlier today, where'd you learn about them?" he demanded.
"I'm not talking!"
"Who brokered this deal for you?" Robin snapped, preparing to dislocate the thug's shoulder.
"It was Reddington! The Concierge of Crime!" he shrieked.
"Never heard of her dude," Beast Boy noted.
"You're not supposed to, she practically runs all criminal activity in Jump City!" he screamed.
"Thanks for that!" Robin nodded and slammed his fist into the man's head, knocking him out.
"It is strange that there would be someone new after so long," Starfire commented. "Do you think she is a supervillain?"
"We would have seen her by now Starfire," Raven replied.
"Good point," Beast Boy nodded. They usually didn't break up as much "normal" crime as law enforcement, but they did whenever the villains were either in jail or in hiding.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" Robin asked.
"Yes, Robin I'm fine. I can't thank you all enough," Samantha Vanover smiled at them.
She got back into her car and drove off, disgusted by the Titans and their heroics. They thought this city was theirs, they were truly naïve.
Samantha had her valet park her car and she made her way into a small nondescript house.
Samantha Vanover looked up as she saw Slade get out of a car.
"Glad you could make it, please follow me," she ushered him inside.
He'd received her call earlier, he was surprised when she had offered to pay him to be her bodyguard. Those jobs were so boring, but then again, money was money and he needed the cash.
She opened the doors and stepped into the chamber, to a room full of wealthy socialites and businessmen, they were all dressed similarly and wore white owl masks over their faces.
She was greeted by members of the Court of Owls.
"Grandmaster! We heard you were carjacked! We feared something would happen."
"Nothing's happened to me, I am fine, the city's "heroes" rescued me," she spat.
"Who was behind the attack?" Joseph Powers asked.
"We don't know, they just seemed like ordinary criminals, nothing special. But they did mention a Concierge of Crime. It's not important. This Concierge of Crime is a nobody! Just some girl who thinks she can play criminal mastermind, she's nothing compared to the Court of Owls!" Samantha smirked.
"We worry for your safety, Grandmaster," Joseph Powers reminded her. "The Talons can't protect you all the time."
"I know and that's why I decided to hire the best protection money can buy, come in Deathstroke!"
Slade stepped into the room. To think he'd been brought into a world of myths and fairy tales so quickly. Still, he'd been hired by Reddington first, the Court of Owls second. He was going to take complete advantage of this, playing both sides and getting the most money out of this as he possibly could.
"Good evening gentlemen!" he greeted them.
"Now my friends to business, we will do what we do best. Shape Jump City from the shadows!"
Slade perks up his interest; surely they're not stupid enough to believe that he'd take a threat to his ambitions lying down.
But they begin talking; discussing their plans like his presence doesn't matter.
He's secretly seething, how these people had flown under his radar for so long he didn't know. He'd play loyal bodyguard for now, because he'd have to factor them into his plans, and he hated when he couldn't predict what his enemies were going to do.
Slade wanted to laugh; Samantha Vanover was the Grandmaster of the Court of Owls.
Easiest job ever.
He'd have to keep an eye on these people.
It also made him wonder why Reddington was so interested in learning the identity of the Grandmaster; perhaps she had a vendetta against them. And as much as he tried to avoid personal curiosity, Slade was hoping he could learn more about her, she reminded him of someone but he couldn't put his finger on who it was. This was going to be a fun adventure after all, so he'd prepare for all the twists and turns it entailed.
Robin was staring at his evidence wall. A new player in the criminal underworld. He placed a blank picture up on the wall.
The Concierge of Crime, a fancy title, but then again, criminals always loved flashy names, gave them a reputation for everyone to see.
This one was different, she made no attempts at taking over the city, they preferred to be the one behind the scenes, keeping everyone else's businesses running smoothly.
He had a name: Reddington, it was a start.
He'd bring her down too, just because you weren't a "big time" criminal didn't mean you weren't dangerous.
Robin wondered why this was the first time he'd ever heard of her. It was a long night and he'd have to get started making a profile on her. After all, if he was going to stop her, he'd need all the information he could get.
Mary couldn't help but glance at Robin's picture in the paper. He was fighting some creature known as Cinderblock, his expression was serious and determined.
She couldn't help but smile, she was so proud of him. Using his talents to help others, just like she'd always hoped he would.
Still, she only wished she could have his strength, but she was waging a war and to do that, she had decided the best way she could was to abandon her morality.
She needed to be unfettered, to do whatever she could no matter what others thought of her, to protect the only family she had left, her son that she held most dear, she threw away notions of right and wrong. That was her strength, and it would be enough to protect Dick from the Court of Owls, from the destiny of the Grayson family.
Her will to protect her son was a deep well indeed.
