Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics.
The shot had to be perfect. The rifle steady. The shooter fast but relaxed, too tense and a muscle can fail and compromise the shot, and at this great distance a steady base is crucial. There was a slight breeze but it was steady. Easy to compensate, as long as there weren't any rogue winds. The shooter could have hit his target no problem, but not a perfect through and through headshot on a windy day.
Deathstroke stood up from the window, he looked down the scope again, he marvelled in his master shooting.
He looked around at the view of Gotham and reminisced. He always enjoyed jobs here, the police were terrible and he never had to worry about an escape, they often saw the work of an assassin and shrugged with their thumbs up their asses, leaving it to the Bat. And the Bat was one to avoid, unless he was out of town.
Slade Wilson smiled. He packed away his rifle. And left. Stage one of the plan was complete.
Dick had recovered, it was never easy watching someone die, and this was a surprise. He and Barbara had reached the Bat bunker, Barbara took off her cowl and Dick took off his mask. He took off his gloves and ran his fingers through his hair. It was a comfort thing. He sat down in front of a work bench, Barbara leaned against the table and they waited in silence thinking.
'What now?' Dick asked,
Barbara shrugged, 'Find Jason? Hope he hasn't killed those assassins?'
'Sure, get in touch,' Barbara sent the message, Dick said 'the problem with Deathstroke is there could be no need for this, yeah he doesn't like me but there could be no reason for this compulsion. No plot, no scheme, just random precise attacks until we stop him.'
'Hm.' Barbara agreed. From what she'd heard about him he was calculating, tactical and almost unpredictable. She had never dealt with him directly. Not like Dick has. Deathstroke never did anything without a reason and yet he never had a good enough reason for doing anything he did. The reasons were only valid to Slade, Dick never truly understood Slade. It was like a cat person explaining why dogs are terrible to a dog person.
The lights above them flickered. Barbara and Dicks heads shot up, this was a state of the art bunker, filled with extremely expensive and elaborate crime fighting weaponry. The lights don't flicker. But one by one they all started flickering, some were frantic, the others slow, some intermittently. Barbara pulled her cowl back on, Dick threw his mask and gloves on, they crossed the room and looked at the Bat computer, they checked the security systems. Offline. This was Bruce Wayne's building, the security systems are never offline. The lights went out, the room was engulfed in darkness, the computer screens had even gone out. Somehow the impossible was happening.
They heard a cheery Ding! And they both turned to wear the elevator was across the room, they didn't see anything so they tried turning on their night vision, but it wasn't responding. EMP? Somewhere in the room, it hadn't reached the elevator.
A fist flew from the darkness, Dick saw it too late and it crashed against his jaw hard, he stepped back and dodged left. By pure luck he had dodged a bullet as a gun fired right where his head had been, the muzzle flash showed Deathstroke standing in front of him, one gun in his left hand and a sword in his right.
Dick sensed what Slade was going to do next, and he threw himself left, narrowly missing an incoming blade swiping up. Dick and Barbara shot themselves forwards, again Slade opened fire and the muzzle flash helped him track them, but Dick had started moving towards Slade.
Faster. Dick thought. His mind was racing, he ran hard and low, bullets were flying through his hair, he was distracting Slade while Barbara flanked him. The computer screens were flickering back to life, causing a strobe light effect, Dick knocked the gun from Slade's hand and took out both of his escrima sticks, he started attacking, precisely, perfectly.
Barbara leapt up high above the men, she came down and struck her knee into the back of Slade's head, he folded forwards as Dick grabbed his neck and thrust his knee into Slade's helmet. It was a hard hit, clearly it did damage, the helmet cracked, shards of it were cast across the floor. Slade brought his sword up as Dick dodged back, narrowly missing the razor sharp blade, and carried on throwing his arms and body back, his hands landed on the floor behind him as he raised his legs into a kick against Slade's chin. Slade turned round to take another kick from Batgirl, Slade spun and slashed out, he caught Barbara's stomach, it pierced the nomex in her suit and cut along her flesh. She winced and her knees faltered.
Dick saw, deep cut, she wouldn't fall if it wasn't serious. And so Dick Grayson became angry.
Adrenaline surged, he saw targets, ribs, lungs, neck, head, eye, knees, nerve clusters, spine. He attacked furiously, he parried incoming attacks, he stabbed and slashed his sticks into the separations in Slade's armour, he struck an elbow into Slade's remaining eye, causing him to step back and cower, he's blinded, perfect.
Slade slashed out and Dick grabbed the blade and pivoted back so the sword fell from his hand. Dick spun and kicked behind landing his foot in Slade's knee at an angle. Slade fell on his knee, Dick continued to spin and kicked Slade hard in the head with his left shin. A perfect roundhouse. Slade fell to the floor, he wasn't moving. He may have been dead, Dick didn't care.
Dick ran to Barbara, she was bleeding. He needed to help her, he lifted her and carried her to one of the Batmobiles. 'Dick, no.' Barbara said.
Dick gave a puzzled look. 'You need to stay,' Barbara said, 'the car can take me to the cave on auto but you need to stay here with him, he can't be left alone here.'
Dick pondered a moment, and nodded. He kissed her on the lips and said 'Tell me when you get there. And don't die.'
Barbara smiled and Dick closed the door, a few moments later the car started and rolled away.
Dick turned to Slade's body on the floor. This all seems... off. He moved towards Slade and the computers to his left came alive, the only source of light in the room. It held a steady light and showed Slade's face. It said 'Sorry kid, I wanted you dead, and when's the best time to kill someone? After they think they've won.'
And the screen died. Darkness took over again.