"Virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when it is crushed."

― Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

Within seconds Wally had donned the suit, just having time to stuff several power bars down his throat, as there was no time to properly recharge. No doubt he'd be running on empty by the time he got to Gotham, but his superfast metabolism was the least of his concerns now. In a minute flat he was back on street level, for once Wally ignored his self imposed speed limit cars rocking as he went past, tonight he didn't care – tonight he was worried about more important things. Artemis was once more fighting for her life and this time he wouldn't be too late. This time he'd run fast enough.

In less than a minute the speedster was out of the city limits, the rolling countryside of the Midwest there to greet him. Away from the city's light pollution he could see that the sky was littered with stars, but the incredible sight was lost to him. Cheshire's words kept turning over in his mind; once more Artemis was alone and lost to him. But this time there was no questioning her loyalties; she had been taken against her will by a man he had no knowledge of, a man that had the power to scare Cheshire. The same woman who had once threatened to blow an entire country sky high.

Wally was now speeding through West Virginia, soon he'd hit New Jersey and then he would be within sights of Gotham City. Despite working under the moniker of the Flash, Wally still relied on the older, more seasoned fighters of the tights-wearing brigade for help. The majority of the time he resisted the urge to fall back on them, his ego unable to accept the deference he still had for them, stemming back from the days when he ran as Kid Flash. But tonight, when he had absolutely no idea who Slade Wilson was and why he had any interest in Artemis, Batman with his seemingly limitless resources and knowledge was going to be his first port of call.

Once upon a time Wally had always treaded carefully when entering Gotham; after all it was Batman's city. Bright red unitards tended to stick out like a sore thumb on the mean and dark streets of Gotham and whilst Wally knew he was just as much substance as style, Batman didn't do curtain calls, he was the hero his city needed him to be. And that hero had to cling to the shadows, the night his one true ally. These days however, Wally had shaken his hang-ups and on the rare occasion Batman gave anything away it appeared that the Dark Knight was willing to admit that the speedster was his own man.

Wally flew past Wayne Tower; the entire building lit up as several lines of the elevated train trundled towards the central station under the vast skyscraper. Wally resisted the urge to shudder; there was something wholly unnerving about Gotham city. It was like Central City in the middle of November at ten minutes past midnight, whatever underbelly his own city managed to hide during the day always made its presence known in Gotham. Despite Batman's efforts crime was still rife in the city, decades worth of corruption stretching up to the highest positions of public office had left the city gasping for air as it struggled to negotiate the constant deluge of human was safe to say that the Scarlet Speedster did not like the city.

The further Wally travelled the larger the houses were becoming, the squalid depravity of the Old Town warehouses long behind him. Soon enough Wally reached the Palisades and the beautiful outline of Wayne Manor could just be made out against the inky black of the night sky. Forgoing all usual methods of gaining entry to the house Wally headed straight for the Cave. Dick had insisted the access route he was about to take was strictly for emergencies, but if this wasn't one Wally didn't know what qualified.

The red head skidded through the waterfall, the droplets barely having time to bounce off his body before he was standing before the Batcomputer.

"Bruce."

"West?" the Detective replied, pushing back his cowl so Wally could benefit from the full force of his withering glare.

"Slade Wilson."

Bruce frowned, getting up from his chair he walked towards the speedster, his gaze steady.

"Where did you hear that name?" Batman's voice was flat, but Wally could hear the growl rumbling under the surface, willing to be unleashed.

"Cheshire. She came to my apartment about 30 minutes ago. She said Artemis had been taken by this Wilson guy and told me to ask you who he was." Wally hurried out; he could feel his energy levels about to drop as he woozily leant against the cold stone wall. Quite suddenly a sandwich was held out under his nose, the source of the offer for sustenance was Alfred. "How'd you know?" the red muttered under his breath as he gratefully accepted the food.

"You tripped off the house's alarm systems, when we ascertained that is was you I began preparing food immediately." The butler smiled warmly, "It is good to see you Master West, although I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me too Alfred," the speedster offered the older man a tight smile having just polished off the plate.

"Have you tried getting in touch with Artemis?" Bruce quickly interjected, once more back at the console.

"Yeah, just rings through to voicemail." Wally sighed, slowly walking towards the Dark Knight.

"She wasn't alone." Batman suddenly stated, his eyes narrowed as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

"What do you mean?" Wally questioned.

"She managed to convince me that Gotham wasn't the best place for Kara at this present moment. The two of them went to Central City yesterday…"

"Dammit!" Wally exclaimed. "I was just there! I should have…"

"No," Bruce quickly interrupted. "You were right to come and find me. Slade Wilson is not a man to be underestimated. The threat he poses is a very real one."

"So who is he?"

"Ex military, served in Korea after lying about his age. Due to his exemplary performance record the army chose to ignore this. He was quickly bumped up the Lieutenant Colonel; apparently his aptitude for killing was unrivalled. Deathstroke is unparalleled when it comes to hand to hand combat; Lady Shiva would struggle against him. At some stage in his career he developed a relationship with an ex SAS officer going by the name of Wintergreen. It was for Wintergreen that Slade broke out of a government run facility; the purpose of this facility was to creature super soldiers, the serums they used worked to varying degrees. But the bottom line is that Slade is in the possession of enhanced physical powers.

"At this point Wilson's history becomes harder to track, his military service record is no longer of any use, a few years after the experimentation Wilson resurfaces as a gun for hire. Thus ensues one of the bloodiest careers in history; Wilson apparently adheres to some form of honour code, one rule being that he will never give up his employer. Up until this point Wilson's MO has been killing. He is reputedly the best contract killer out there. But now it would seem the weapon has tired of being handled…"

"You don't think he's taking orders from somebody?" Wally asked, his green eyes narrowing in thought.

"Slade isn't hired muscle, not normally anyway. Assassinations are what he deals in… What he's doing with Artemis is something else entirely. Perhaps he's no longer willing to act as a pawn."

"So, we have no idea why he might have taken Artemis."

"And Kara." Bruce added grimly. "I haven't been able to get in touch with her either."

"Dammit!" Wally suddenly exclaimed, angrily stalking away from Bruce.

"Losing your temper isn't going to help the situation Wally. Before I let Kara leave with Artemis I made her promise she'd take a panic alarm with her, it was more thanks to Clark insisting really. She's activated it."

"You think she still has it on her?" Wally questioned, his anger quickly dissipating.

"Most probably, it was disguised as a pendant." Batman frowned, "the computer's still trying to triangulate her position, it looks like she's in the Metropolis area however."

Reaching towards a small steel box on the table Batman withdrew an earpiece.

"Here." Rather unceremoniously the vigilante dumped the earpiece into Wally's hand. "We're taking the Batwing. Dick should be here in a minute."

As if he'd been waiting in the wings for his cue Richard Grayson suddenly appeared by Wally's side.

"I've tried to get through to Conner but the guys not picking up."

"Superman?" Wally asked, before he finished off several more sandwiches Alfred had brought down.

Batman suddenly stilled, his eyes narrowed. "Clark is too close to this…"

"And I'm not?" Wally shot back.

"I don't think Clark needs to be involved, it wouldn't be beneficial."

Wally was about to say something along the lines of keeping too many secrets from people he professed to be friends with was never a good idea, until he caught the look Dick was shooting him.

"Never a good idea to contradict him."

"Seriously Dick? We're grown men, we don't need to ask his permission to do things, if we think that Clark should be here then…" Wally broke off, trying his best to sound resolute but he had a feeling he was failing.

"If that's the case then why don't you ask Bruce if you can fly the Batwing?" Nightwing asked wryly. With his mask firmly in place Dick was already falling into fearless leader mode, there was something about the costume that made him stand taller.

"Fine," Wally conceded. "But half the problems between him and JLA is because of trust issues. And I'm fairly certain he's the one that's got the problem."

"What's Superman not coming got to do with trust?"

"Trust is bred on honesty, we're not being honest."

"Look, Wally." Dick said, his tone unusually grave. "Do you want to save Artemis?"

"Of course!" The speedster exclaimed, a little too loudly, as the Detective threw a look in their direction.

"Then trust him. Trust Bruce." Dick said emphatically, "He knows what he's doing."

The steady drip of water echoed throughout the cell. Artemis' eyes fluttered open; she was still groggy, still unsure of her surroundings. Breathing in sharply the blonde instantly regretted it, there was a stagnant smell floating in the air. Whether it was all the still water she was surrounded by or something else she didn't know, but whatever it was it was unpleasant.

Rolling onto her side Artemis let out a small groan, rubbing her hand across the back of her head she checked for any obvious wounds, all she felt was an egg sized bump. Pushing herself into a sitting position the archer began to assess her situation.

She was hobbled, but her hands remained unbound, the blonde shuffled towards the small amount of light that was offered to her through the cracked window. Gritting her teeth against the shooting pain in her legs she finally managed to pull herself upright by using the cold iron bars that stood between her and possible freedom.

"You're awake I see."

"No thanks to you," Artemis spat, doing her best to hide her shock at the sudden appearance of the stranger.

"No, I suppose not. I did hit you rather hard." With those words Slade Wilson stepped closer to the bars, his face only just illuminated by the moonlight.

"Who are you?" The archer asked, her voice dangerously close to breaking as she tried to gain any clues. "Where's Kara?"

"Kara is safe for the moment." Wilson smiled behind his mask.

Recoiling ever so slightly Artemis asked again, "Who are you?"

"An interested party."

"God damn it!" the blonde veritably screamed, "I'm not interested in whatever you have to offer me."

"Even if what I have to offer you may grant you your own place in the world, away from the guilt and resentment you currently harbour?"

"I don't resent anyone," Artemis spat. "And that guilt? That guilt is what reminds me of why I never want to get involved with people like you again. Now for the last time, who the fuck are you?"

"Slade Wilson," the man offered finally. "Your daddy might have mentioned me, he'd probably have used my work name though – Deathstroke."

Artemis' eyes widened in shock, in her haste to get away from the bars she fell to the floor, desperately pushing herself as far away from the man as she could.

"Ah, so Sportsmaster did tell you about me."

"You're insane if you think I'm going to start killing people for a living…" Artemis whispered from her place on the ground.

"I don't plan for you to become an assassin Artemis. I have far bigger hopes for you."

"Like what?" Artemis questioned definitely, some of the fight she had in her bubbling to the surface.

"It is time for the false idols that the world seems to worship to be torn down and for us to begin again." Deathstroke suddenly broke into a wide smile, a bark like laugh echoing through the room. "Honestly? I'm after power Artemis, after all, what else is there?"

"And what, I'm supposed to help you get it?" Artemis shot back, her voice dripping with barely concealed hatred.

"Clever girl."

Deathstroke smiled.

Sitting in front of the mirror Conner looked to his hand, the sheers were already buzzing and for a second he almost lost his bottle. Gritting his teeth the boy tried to shake the sudden feelings of doubt. This was who he was. He knew that now. There was no point trying to be something that he was clearly never meant to be. Very slowly he brought the sheers to his head, dark brown locks drifting down around his face.

Turning off the sheers Conner simply stared before shakily running his hand over his now bald scalp. Blinking his eyes rapidly Conner roughly wiped away the tears.

His reflection was utterly unfamiliar to him now. Gone was his wholesome image now something else lurked there. Perhaps he was imagining it, maybe he was seeing things that he wanted to see. A connection to someone – something to tie him down and hold him. He hadn't found it with Clark so maybe he could find it with someone else.

His phone was continually buzzing in his pocket, it was probably Dick, despite everything they had tried to say to each other Wally rarely called. Pulling out his phone with every intention of putting it on silent Conner's breath hitched in his throat. The caller ID was spitting out Wally's name.

It didn't mean anything. It wasn't fate. It wasn't a sign. It was coincidence.

Roughly rising to his feet Conner headed towards the door, the address he had been given on a parting business card his destination.

Standing in front of an ubiquitous steel door Conner looked for some means of access. To the left of the door there was a panel, wrenching it open Conner was rewarded with the sight of a biometric scanner, leaning forwards so that his eye was level he waited. He was soon rewarded with a click of the lock and the door swung forward on its hinges. Taking a few hesitant steps forward he was soon swallowed up by the darkness, the door swinging shut behind him.

Walking ever so slowly forwards Conner soon found himself in a large, cavernous room. Wobbling slightly he noticed the familiar glow of green behind thick glass. Frowning Conner stepped forwards, a wave of nausea hit him, pushing him backwards. Gritting his teeth he shuffled forwards again, the green haze clearing just enough for him to make out a mop of blonde hair.

"Jesus…"

"I see you've met your sister," a smooth voice suddenly out. Smiling to himself Lex' hand reached out to rest on Conner's shoulder before giving it a small squeeze. "Time to say hello?"

A/N: Another chapter at last! Hope you guys liked this one and please drop me a review letting me know what you think!