Chapter 2

The Phone Call

The hiss of the motors was relaxing to his ears, the grinding of gears a soothing rhythm that reminded him he was home. Slade Wilson, who was no stranger to being gone from his haunt for long periods of time, closed his eye as he pressed the B button in his elevator. Between contracts, assassinations and his own plans for the world and the people in it, he was a very busy man. Having just returned from Egypt, Slade had instantly felt the stress leave his muscles as he had walked through his home bases door and submerged into the cool darkness. Dropping his utility belt and mask on a nearby workbench, he summoned his old colleague Wintergreen, before slumping into a plush leather chair and starting the arduous process of updating his logs.

Two hours and several cups of coffee later, the lights having been dimmed to sooth his singular bloodshot eye, he was looking over some paper work and more job offers. There was nothing that really peeked his interest, though the mission in the Amazon was the most prominent at the moment. Slade had always found a certain amount of satisfaction in stalking through the jungle underbrush. Plus, the price given was far more then reasonable considering the mission was meant only to find a missing expedition, kill them quietly and extract a couple maps and some artifacts of interest.

Putting the work aside for later, perhaps when he had had some time to rest, bath and eat, he typed in his access code and overrode the operating system linked to several military satellites. The screens before him lit up with the streets of Jump. His beloved city, the city that never slept, the city that he had owned on several occasions; if only the Titans had not gotten in the way.

Speaking of- he should probably check in on his favorite teen heroes. The word favorite being used loosely as he still had plans to kill them all at the next best opportunity. However, before he could switch his live feed from the streets of Jump to the hacked system in Titans Tower, Slade's alert went off informing him that there was someone waiting for him on his private line. Slade quickly switched from the camera feeds to his com-link and was greeted by none other than the man of steel.

"Hello, Deathstroke." Superman said giving him a not so sincere smile.

"Why Superman, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected call?" Slade leaned back in his chair and popped his foot up on the console, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so and cocking his head to the side.

"If your asking how I got hold of your contact information, it was surprisingly easy."

"I would hope so. I do, after all, put it out there so person's of interest can get a hold of me. If it happens to be someone who has no real business with me than so be it."

"Who says I have no business for you?" Superman asked mimicking Slade and crossing his arms as well.

"The big red 'S' on your chest says you have no business for me. At least, not the type of business I am usually contacted for. The fact that you are Superman, says you have no business with me."

"I wouldn't say that, in fact, if I were you I'd listen very carefully for the next thirty minutes, because I have an offer for you that I am sure you will find very interesting." A small mischievous smile slowly slid across Superman's face, the corners of his eyes turning up as he did so.

Slade normally NEVER did jobs for or dealt with super heroes, it was to easy of a trap to fall into, but something in his gut told him he should give the man an ear. "Alright, let's talk."

"Two weeks ago the league received intell on a non-hostile but invasive take over in the near by star system of Orian. Since then, there have been both requests and threats alike about Earth sending someone for peace talks."

"Non-hostile but invasive?" the redundancy of that statement made Slade's brow go up in confusion, "That's a rather large oxymoron."

"Strange I know, all planets being assimilated into this races infrastructure don't want to submit to the new rule but it seems so far there has been no outbreak of conflicts or actual wars when the aliens invade the planet."

"That is interesting-" Slade started as he brought a finger to his chin in thought, "Any signs of mind control or blackmail on the planets per-existing governments thus far invaded?"

"None that we have been able to detect. But it seems that Earth is the next on their list."

Slade shrugged and allowed his head to lazily roll about against the back of the chair, his patients and interest growing thin, "This is all very interesting but I fail to see where I come in. Unless, of course, you're looking to have one of the alien leaders removed."

"This wouldn't be a regular mission for you. There won't be any killing either so you will have to exercise restraint. We are willing to pay your usual fees, and of course negotiate other terms if you feel the money is not enough."

"Mm, alright, tell me about the mission, if it is not to assassinate an alien tyrant, I really do not see what need you have for my services."

"I want you to pose as Batman." Superman said simply, his face revealed no signs of levity and Slade, his brow shooting up in surprise, leaned forward as his eye narrowed.

"What?"

"You heard me Deathstroke. This threat to Earth is very real and I need Batman on this mission to lead the negotiations. Batman refuses to leave until there is a suitable person to watch over Gotham, so I want you to fill in."

"You can't be serious." he said with an air of humor, as he leaned his face into his palm, an elbow resting on the console before him.

"I am very serious."

"What about the boy wonder? Wouldn't an actual hero be more suitable for the job?" Slade asked growing more and more interested as the cogs in his head started to turn more rapidly.

"That is another part of the deal. Robin will be there to serve as your escort. He will be with you twenty-four hours a day to make sure all guidelines for the contract are honored. Of course, we have a document written up, I can send it to you and you can make the necessary changes. After your service you will be allowed to leave without being held for any of your previous crimes. You will have immunity as it were, and of course your pay."

"Sounds far to easy and much too good to be true, what's the catch?" Slade inquired, studying the man before him with an intense eye.

"The only real stipulations are simple: you will be monitored by Robin while in the Bat cave and you will not be allowed to analyze any of Batman's tools or his computer. If at anytime Robin feels you are breaching the contract he will report it immediately to me, and if anything should happen to Robin in our absence the contract is null and void."

Slade thought a moment, eye focused on the computer console in front of him. Smiling before he nodded and made eye contact with Superman, he spoke with thorough conviction.

"That sounds fair. If you could answer one more question, one you seemed to skip around earlier, why do you call upon a villain to do a heroes job?"

Superman's face remained neutral but Slade could tell he was hesitant to answer, for what reason the assassin did not know.

"The truth of the matter is, we ran various and wide-spread computer generated analyses, went through every possible option, and the only person who would seem able to match Batman pound for pound when it came to hand-to-hand combat, knowledge of computational and technical science as well as knowledge of other villains, strategy and logic-"

"I was the only viable match, I'm flattered." Slade cooed smoothly.

Superman stopped himself from rolling his eyes and continued, "We don't want the villains of Gotham to know that Batman is gone, it's the beginning of a new year and this is usually when crime in Gotham spikes. If the villains found out Batman was gone for longer then a few days all hell would break lose. Batman has made progress in the last few years and we don't want it all lost in a day. We want to keep the big boys like the Joker, Two-face and Poison Ivy at bay. The little villains and petty criminals are easy to control and they don't come in onslaughts carrying missals, hostages and large guns."

Slade could no help but smile, "So in essence this is more to keep up apperances. Not necessarily to keep the crime down while Batman's away. Did the dark knight not have enough faith in his young ward?"

"There was never a question of Robin's ability to uphold the law while Batman is gone. The truth of the matter is, that he actually favored the idea of Robin protecting the city alone, more then having some one of your caliber being involved at all. The reality of the situation, however, does not allow Robin so be on his own for so long. If the villains realize that it's just Robin and that Batman is gone, we fear they will act up in order to deal with Robin head on. He didn't leave many of them very happy before he left and with the current position the league is in with the alien threat we wouldn't be able to help Robin if he were put in a less then desirable situation, he is just a boy after all."

"A boy with a round house that could snap your neck." Slade murmured with annoyance as he thought about his enemy.

Superman either didn't hear Slade's remark or chose to ignore it because he continued on, "We feel that you would be able to help Robin keep order within the city as well as watch his back if things get out of hand. You would pass well enough as Batman and would have the ability to keep the villains in line if things got out of hand."

Slade chuckled, thinking of all the other villains who would just love to get their hands on the boy blunder, Slade may admire Robin but he would be lying if he said he hadn't thought about tossing the brightly colored teen to the wolves the minute Superman had started to explain the situation.

"I will need to be allowed to keep tabs on my own work. I would need time to check on my accounts. What you are willing to pay is generous but I have other work that pays just as well if not more and I would hate to lose it to a runner up, especially for a job that is such a special case."

Superman hit a button on his side of the screen and the next thing Slade knew he was receiving a fax; he reached and pulled out what appeared to be a contract.

"Add on whatever is necessary." Slade nodded and started to scan through the details, "Just out of curiosity what else did that computer analysis say about me?" he didn't look up when he asked, his eye just continued to scan.

"Of every person the computer took in to account of our semi-allies, you would be the least likely to betray the contract. You have a high code of honor which implies you would see this through with minimal chance of betrayal."

"Very interesting indeed." Slade said making a metal note to get his hands on this program of theirs.

Slade finished looking over the contract and added his own provisions before faxing it back.

"There is one more thing that I would like to add and I am hoping your code of honor is as well set as mine."

Superman nodded, "I do NOT want this to get around after the terms of the contract have been met. In all other circumstances I would turn this job down, but you're willing to pay my fees and the security of the very planet I live on is at stake. It benefits me in more ways than one. However, good deeds of this nature I would prefer off record and kept quiet. Once this deal is over I have to come back to my own line of work and good deeds like this don't make a deadly assassin look very deadly."

"Deal, I will add your code of silence to the contract to make sure everyone understands. When we meet in person all people involved will sign the contract."

"Very well." Slade agreed, a giddiness pressing through his mind as he thought about what he had just agreed to.

Superman nodded and spoke, "One more thing for off the record, to never be spoken of again. I want to thank you personally. Batman is key to our success, with out him the negotiations would be decidedly more difficult."

Slade nodded knowing full well that had been a very painful thing for Superman to say, the transmission was terminated seconds later and both men went back to their work, Slade with a rather large grin on his face. Suddenly he had a lot of preparation to do before this mission was to commence.

Another thought occurred to him.

ROBIN

This would be the chance he had been waiting for. It seemed the League and Batman didn't know about Slade's previous history with the boy. That was the most interesting fact of all. The young hero had kept it to himself and his team, not even telling the bat. He was skilled to hide such things from his former mentor and Slade had a feeling Robin would surpass the Bat very soon in regards to secrecy. Slade couldn't wait to work with the young hero, despite his hatred of the kid, Robin had talent and it would be interesting to see him in a city much more deadly and dangerous then Jump.

Slade sat back, this would be a most favorable adventure.

A/N: R&R Hope you enjoyed.