CHAPTER IV
And now we return to Slade. He'd been in his cemetery dwelling for about twelve hours now, and he'd been going around it and finding whatever he could to keep himself occupied. At the moment, he was fiddling with one of the computers given to him. The computer had been equipped with the necessary applications to allow it to easily access security and traffic cameras throughout Gotham. He thought maybe that his target was laying low, because he hadn't seen any news reports on him. He hadn't had any luck, however, though he'd been searching every obscure corner of Gotham. Well, that is, except for the underground. There wasn't a sufficient amount of any kind of cameras there, so he was practically blind in that area. He still had the phone that Ms. Waller had given him. He picked it up and called her. "Hey, lady," he said, "I think I might need to get into the underground." "I'd take a better liking to your request if you didn't refer to me as 'lady'," said Ms. Waller. "Well, what else could I call you?" said Slade, "You haven't told me your name." "Right now, I think 'Miss' would be enough," said Ms. Waller. "All right, 'Miss'," said Slade, annoyed, "How would we get all this stuff to the underground?" "All you need to pack is your uniform and your weapons," said Ms. Waller, "We already have a place set up in the underground. It was made just in case you ask the question you did just now." Slade turned to look at his uniform.
It was still full black. Something seemed missing to Slade. "Do you have any spray paint in here, or anything?" asked Slade. "Certainly not," said Ms. Waller, "After all, who knows if you'd just use it to cover up the security camera's lens?" "Can you send someone in here with some?" asked Slade. "Now, that, I can arrange," said Ms. Waller, "Give me a few minutes." "Sure thing," said Slade, hanging up. After he set the phone down, he spun around in his swivel chair and said to himself, "Don't have anything else to give, anyway." Slade, being a mercenary, was used to high-octane environments. This meant that even a few minutes without anything to do was enough to make him impatient. He was about to get mad when suddenly, he heard repeated clacking coming from the stairs. He was almost sent into high alert until he saw a man in a suit coming down the stairs, holding a box of spray paint. All kinds of colors were present. The man set the spray paint down on a table, staying right where he was. Slade looked at him and said, "How's the weather outside?" "Fine," said the man quickly. "Not much of a conversationalist, are you?" said Slade, smirking. "It's not what I was trained to be, sir," said the man in the same rapid fashion. "Your people say 'not' a lot, you know that?" said Slade, rummaging through the box. Soon, he came upon just what he was looking for. It was a can of orange spray paint. "You got some tape in here?" asked Slade, looking around the room, "Or are you concerned about the camera?" The man nodded in response to Slade's second statement, but he said, "The boss thought you'd need some, though." He handed Slade a roll of blue tape.
Slade immediately went to work, placing blue tape over the right side of the mask. He then shook up the can of spray paint for a few minutes. After that, he put the mask on a table, spray painting it. He went with two or three coats, making sure the color would turn out bright. The mask's left half was now bright orange. "Why orange?" asked the man, abandoning his regular speaking fashion. Slade looked at the man, saying with a grin, "It's an interesting choice, eh?" He looked back at the mask, saying, "I told your boss that this reminded me of an old job. Now, I can't tell you what it was, but I can tell you is that we had uniforms very similar to this suit, which is standard ASIS. Every person at my old job had a mask that had a certain color on the left side of their masks that would indicate rank: red was lowest, gold was up next, and black was highest. Now, me, I'm not any of those. I'm red, gold, and black combined. In a sense, I'm more than any of those other guys at my old job." "Interesting," said the man. "You don't really think that," said Slade, smirking. The man shrugged. Slade said, "I haven't tried this on yet, you know. I ought to. You can go when you need." The man nodded and left immediately. Slade got down to his underwear, standing in front of the suit. "Oh, this'll be cool," he said happily. He got in the suit. He equipped himself with the weapons he wanted. He stood in front of a mirror when he was finished. "I like," he said. He felt very pleased.
He strapped his broadsword onto his right hip, two Uzis onto his lower back, and his sniper rifle onto his upper back. He had two small hidden blades on his wrists and several fragment grenades hooked onto his belt. "Still missing…a little flair," said Slade. He looked at the clothes that Ms. Waller had given him to make him seem like a homeless man. There was a thin black shemagh among the other, cheaper articles of clothing. He picked it up, saying, "This'll work." He wrapped it around his neck, and he said, "I'm dressed to kill." He sighed, continuing, "But I'll have to dress to move now, I suppose." He changed back into the homeless man look, packing up all his weapons and his suit. He called Ms. Waller, saying, "You have any transportation for me?" "Wait outside the mausoleum," said Ms. Waller. Slade hung up and grabbed his cases, going outside. He looked around, deciding to sit on a nearby bench. He only had to wait a few minutes for a black SUV to drive up to a spot near Slade. He walked over to the car, and several of Ms. Waller's employees grabbed his bags and put them in the trunk. "Get in the back," said one man. Slade nodded, immediately getting in the driver's side back seat. "So, you're here to take me to the underground?" asked Slade. "Yes, sir," said the driver, "We'll be helping you get your things into the new location." "Then let's not waste anymore time talking," said Slade. All present in the car fell silent as they passed from the prosperous to the impoverished.
They drove up to a small, seemingly abandoned apartment building. Slade looked at the driver and said, "This the place?" The driver simply nodded, and the other men in the car helped Slade drag his stuff into the building. Inside, it was furnished with everything Slade found in the mausoleum, including a cabinet for holding his things. The cases were set down, and the men prepared to leave. Before they left, one man reached into his jacket and pulled out a photo. It was one of Slade's target. "The boss said you might need this," said the man. Slade took it, saying, "I might. But you shouldn't underestimate my skills." The man said, "We'll keep that in mind." The man nodded and left. Slade unpacked his bags, setting up the suit and the weapons. He stared at the orange-and-black mask, saying, "I'm back." Slade knew he had to begin his search immediately. It was starting to get late, and that was most likely when Slade's target would emerge. And so, he dressed in the homeless man outfit, walking down the street. He was well aware of the fact that several people were leering at him from dark alleys. But when they caught a glimpse of his face, they shrunk back and looked away. He kept the photo out at all times, checking it against what the people looked liked. He was only slightly discouraged at Ms. Waller's remark about what his target looked like now. Did he dye his hair? Has he gained weight? Was the photo he'd been given an old one? However, he was only, as said before, slightly discouraged. He was still confident enough in his ability to find people. He told himself that patience and energy was all he needed.
He stared at the photo. What if the change in his appearance is negative?, thought Slade. He did a visual sweep of the streets in front of him. His eyes landed on an old-looking bar called The Buzz. Under the name of the bar was a cartoonish, seemingly drunk bee. "There we go," said Slade, "The land of low self-esteem." Slade speed-walked to the bar, going inside. The atmosphere in the bar was chaotic. Men and women were tripping over themselves, spilling their drinks, and grinning like lunatics. There was even a young couple making out in the corner. Slade sneered, saying, "Underground, indeed." He turned from everyone else, looking for something out of the ordinary. On the right side of the room, there was the bar. Slade saw a man in a white tuxedo sitting directly in the middle section of the bar. He was spinning his shot glass, waiting for another drink. Slade sat down next to him, saying, "So, either you're not a happy drunk, or you're…" The man interrupted him, saying, "Just having a few drinks before I start my conquest." Slade looked around, seeing that no one aside from the two of them were seated at the bar. "Everybody cleared out?" asked Slade, "Why?" The man turned to face Slade, revealing the left side of his face. "That…makes sense," said Slade, taken aback. "At least you're more respectful than the last guy," said the man, turning back away, "Name's Harvey Dent. You?" "Slade Wilson," answered Slade. "Interesting name," said the man, this time with a strange rasp in his voice. "What happened to your voice, Harvey?" asked Slade, confused. "Oh, sorry," said White Knight, "I'm White Knight." Slade's eyes widened in realization.
Slade pointed at Two-Face and said, "Wait. You used to work for Joseph, right?" Two-Face suddenly turned to look at Slade, saying quietly yet savagely, "How do you know about Joseph?" Slade hesitated, but he knew he had to say. He responded, "I…was one of the five black disciples. I was Thanatos. I'd heard about you, but I'd never met you." "Surprising," said Two-Face, his two sides now momentarily unified, "I had authority over most of the disciples. I should have met you." "Wasn't there long," said Slade, "Cerberus shot me." "So you were burned by Joseph too?" asked Two-Face, raising his right eyebrow. "Yeah, you could say that," said Slade. "Course, in your case it's more figurative, but you know how it goes," said Two-Face, "Anyway, what're you doing down here?" "I'm looking for someone," said Slade, "Do you think maybe you could help?" "It's not my problem," said White Knight. Slade smiled and said, "Very true. In that case, I don't really need to be here anymore…" Slade trailed off and was about to get up when Harvey Dent reemerged and grabbed his arm, saying, "You looking for this guy out of your own free will?" Slade took a few seconds to answer, eventually saying, "…Not really. I mean, it's paid, but I have to do exactly what this person tells me." "Then why don't you do something a little more…freeing?" asked Two-Face. Slade said, "Like…?" Two-Face smiled and said, "Being a ruler. This place could be so easily subdued, and I want to do that. You could help me." "It does sound a little less boring," said Slade, "You know, the people who hired me set me up in an old apartment building. You could crash there." "I just might," said Two-Face. Two-Face and Slade shook hands, sealing the deal.
They went back to the apartment building, and as they went up to the entrance, Slade said, "You might want to go to a different apartment. My employers set up a security cam." Two-Face nodded, and a few minutes later Slade walked into the apartment Two-Face had chosen with two bottles of Bud Light. "Best that was in the mini-fridge they gave me," said Slade, handing Two-Face a bottle. "It's fine," said Two-Face, popping it open. The two new allies clinked their bottles together and drank.