Deathstroke wants revenge on the people that killed his son Joey and won't let anything get in his way, but what happens when one of Jackal's victims get involved in the crossfire? Will he help or will he dismiss and continue with his own mission?
The story is heavily influenced by the comics with only a few influences of the Arrow show. This takes place in the comic book universe where Slade never had his eye gouged out by Oliver Queen. He was shot in the eye by his wife.
I do not own the characters, only the plot and the ideas of the story.
Warning: this story may contain graphic violence, sex, nudity, sensitive topics and harsh language.
Slade looks up at the ceiling of the helicopter, the turbulence jerking and rumbling throughout his body in the most annoying way. Of course, he doesn't know if it's actually the turbulence or the pilot's bad flying techniques. It's even making the co-pilot throw up. Slade isn't feeling too well himself. 10 hours on a helicopter and he's already turning green in the face behind the orange and black mask. He just needs to wait a little longer and he'll be out of this death trap and into Cambodia soon. He thought of taking a public airplane to Cambodia but he doesn't want anyone to know he's coming. Also, he doesn't want to scare the rest of the passengers if they ever see him dressed in his Deathstroke suit.
Cambodia. The place he never thought he would visit again, especially after what happened with Lillian. It's like visiting a haunted mansion full of ghosts. But to him, it's necessary if he wants to catch the demon. The monster that ruined his life as Slade Wilson.
The phone in his pocket rings. It's Wintergreen. The fifth time he's called. Slade now feels he's being pestered by his friend. He picks up the phone and answers the call.
"Have you arrived?" Wintergreen asks.
"Next time, pick a better pilot that doesn't make his co-pilot throw up," Slade hisses into the phone. Wintergreen chuckles at the other side of the line.
"Are you arriving?"
"Almost."
"Remember that they can't see the helicopter coming, Slade."
"I know the plan, Wintergreen. Just a few more miles and I'm leaving this death trap."
"These are the best men I could find," Wintergreen says in a rather irritated tone.
Bull. Slade doesn't think the same way Wintergreen does. Wintergreen can be a bit too soft sometimes on people. Slade likes things being done right.
"I'm guessing you paid them cheap," he scoffs. "Anything new in the U.S.? Do I have to worry about Batman getting at my ass."
"Batman has his hands occupied as well as the other heroes," Wintergreen informs him, "They are unware of your trip or your plans."
"Good. Just make sure everything's ready when I arrive and keep informing me every now and then," Slade insists. Batman and the rest of the Justice League are the last thing he needs to worry about, especially Oliver Queen and the bitch Dinah Lance.
After this, he hangs up the phone and remains looking out to the ocean. The ocean is deep blue like a gem and flat as a board from what Slade can see. He remembers Joey always insisting to go to the beach. Joey enjoyed building the sand castles and picking up seashells for his mother. Adeline even had a collection of seashell in a shoebox hidden in the closet. Grant always hated the water. Slade remembers smacking Grant in the back of the head for throwing sand into Joey's face and making him cry. He didn't like hitting Grant. Sometimes he hit Joey as well. He hit both of his sons, actually. But it wasn't that he didn't love them. It was because they were both being snotty, arrogant and disobedient. He remembered Grant trying to run away from home when he smacked his own mother in the face out of anger when she grounded him for failing Math test. Slade wasn't going to let Grant get away with that. He had found him and dragged him back home where he forced him to apologize for hitting her.
Unfortunately, Grant still grew up to be a jackass (just like his father). Slade and Adeline are divorced. And Joey? Poor Joey. He never grew up to be anything. And Slade now blames himself for it, after so many years. If only he turned down his mask. If he had left the identity of Deathstroke, maybe Joey would still be alive. But now, Deathstroke is all he has left. He has nothing left to lose.
Now he's going to make things right. He's going to find the man who ruined his life as Slade Wilson.
A few hours later, Slade now sees land two miles away from he is now. He gets the oxygen tank ready as well as his water-proof bag full of guns and clothing. He orders the pilot to stop the helicopter at this very spot. The pilot and the co-pilot are confused at first but when Slade immediately jumps off the helicopter and dives into the ocean, they finally understand that Slade isn't planning and landing the helicopter into Cambodia.
Slade swims towards land, keeping an eye on sharks and other unsuspected predators. He's not afraid of sharks though. He has already been bitten by one once and regenerated his flesh and bone after a few hours. It hurt like shit though, feeling sharp rows of teeth digging into his flesh and tearing it to shreds. Slade had been forced to punch the shark in the eye twice to blind it before it finally let go of his leg. He wasn't concerned of his blood attracting more sharks back then, he's not afraid of them now.
He finally makes it to shore on a deserted beach in Binh Thuan known as the Beach with Moss. He slips on a couple of rocks a few times in attempts to stand up until he finally finds his balance. 50 pounds of armour on his body is not easy to carry. Luckily his new Ikon suit is lighter and easier to move. At first, he never liked his new armour and asked Wintergreen to get rid of it. But it has become useful for him after awhile. It's bullet-proof, easy-moving, light-weighted and doesn't give him a strain in the back. Carrying metal as a suit is no easy job.
Once he arrives at the beach, he strips off from his Ikon suit and dresses up more casually in a beige safari shirt and jeans to look more like a tourist than a man on the hunt. His eyepatch will still make the locals give him questionable looks for his appearance.
Wintergreen knows a lot of people in Cambodia. He has contacts. Slade can always count on him. Wintergreen will always find a way to get Slade's belongings into a hotel without any of the staff peeking into the bags to find his weapons and costume. He will always find allies that will aid him and Slade with their missions.
Like right now, a red Jeep pulls over at the other side of the beach and an Asian woman steps out of it, waving at him. Slade recognizes the familiar red dragon tattoo wrapped around her arm. Shado.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Slade asks while sitting in the passenger's seat with his bag in the back and Shado driving, "You're not Vietnamese."
"No, but I blend in just fine since some of you American tourists see us all the same," Shado smirks without taking her eyes off the road, the wind making her black hair flap around her face, "If you all just look at our eyes, you may see that we don't all look the same."
"I'm not saying that you do," Slade offers her a smirk in return and then asks, "Where are we heading?"
"We? Who says anything about we? Wintergreen called ahead, by the way. I'm only a taxi driver," she chuckles as if finding his question amusing, "My job is to drop your ass off at the nearest hotel. Heritage Suite. That's where you're going. After that, I'll be on my way."
"You're not still mad about that Great Ten thing that happened two years ago, are you?" Slade asks. Shado gives him the middle finger as a response to his question. Yep, she's still angry as fuck. He still remembers the Great Ten. As much as they still do favours for him, Yao Fei, Fang Zhifu, Xu Tao, Ghost Fox (her full name is Ghost Fox Killer but Slade prefers to call her Ghost Fox for short), Chen Nuo, Wu Mei-Xing, Yang Kei-Ying, Lao Yuqi, Gu Lao and Zou Kang, they're still angry as hell about a mission they botched up two years and nearly got themselves killed. The Great Ten are all Chinese. Shado is Japanese. Shado was also temporarily joining the team of the Great Ten for awhile as well as Slade.
Slade knows that if he ever faces the Great Ten again, he's in for a world of hurt and not the good kind of hurt. Shado already looks like she's about to eat him alive. Of course, if Wintergreen paid her with enough money, it's obvious she's trying very hard not to kill Slade on the way to their destination.
"So, what brings you here to Cambodia?" Shado asks bitterly, "Visiting old ghosts?"
"I'm here on official business, dear," he says.
"It doesn't look like business. It looks like something personal, Slade. Why would you be carrying a bag of guns and swords if it's just business, as you say."
"It's classified," he sighs.
With that, Shado steps on the breaks and the Jeep screeches with a halt. Slade glares at Shado irritably. They're wasting time stopping here in the middle of nowhere having a glaring contest.
"Listen to me very carefully, Slade Wilson," she says with a warning in her venomous tone, "Whatever problem you have right now, I don't want any part of it. I already have enough trouble as it is. So don't expect me for anymore favours to whatever shit you're in. Got it?"
"I got it, sweetheart," he smirks and winks at her.
"Don't ever call me sweetheart again, unless you want to keep that dick of yours in the right place," she threatens before continuing to drive their way.
She's just as feisty as he remembers. That's what he has always liked about Shado. Strong-willed. Stubborn. And not willing to take shit from anyone, including Slade. As much as Slade likes having Shado around, this is something he needs to do alone. He doesn't want her involved in anything he came here for which is the reason why he's not telling her.
I came here to kill the son of bitch that killed my son.
So, guys, what do you think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Does it need work? Leave a review down below and tell me what you think of this first chapter.