Slade sat in his lair, watching the footage he had...acquired of the young green Titan who was the focus of his current interest. He watched that...other form rampage, taking the rest of the team apart. He watched that same creature easily dispatch the minions of Trigon the Terrible.
"Interesting..." he mumbled. "Such power hidden in such a pathetic man-child. But what brings it out? He obviously does not have control..."
He noticed that the Beast - as the Titans called it - was always angry when it rampaged. "Rage, is it? When I spoke with him earlier, he showed remarkable strength even in his human form when he became enraged. But what is the trigger..." He noticed the commanality. "Raven? But why would she be the trigger?"
He turned to his latest acquired footage. Beast Boy and Raven, laying back against a tree overlooking the ocean. "They do make a cute couple...could that be it? His primal instincts made manifest to protect his mate? That would explain a great deal...but how to put it to use..."
His phone rang. He paused the footage and stared at the phone. That was odd. He didn't give this number out to anyone, and it was blocked from caller ID with the most advanced technology available. Out of curiousity, he picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
The voice on the other end was distorted through a scrambler. "Slade 'Deathstroke' Wilson?"
Ah, that explained things. He was wanted for a job. "Speaking? I take it you have a job for me of some sort?"
"You could say that. I understand you have a plan in motion regarding the Teen Titans?"
This disturbed Slade. He kept his mercenary life seperate from what he did in his spare time...completely seperate, he thought. "What is your interest there?"
"I have my own plans for the Titans. Yours interfere with them. I would ask you desist."
"Really? And what would my payment be?"
"YOur life."
Slade stood up. He did not like being threatened. "Who are you?"
"Call me Oneshot."
"Oneshot..." Slade thought for a time, idly strolling through his lair. "I haven't heard that name for a while..."
"Ten years, I'd expect."
"...You seem to know quite a bit about me."
"...Tell me, who will mourn for you?"
Slade stopped in his tracks. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just idle curiousity."
Slade spun on his heel. "I'm not sure I like the tone you're taking."
"It seems you won't listen. A pity. I always did like brown eyes."
Slade's eye went wide. "What?"
"Goodbye, Sergeant." *Click*
Slade glanced down at the phone...and saw the red 'X' he was standing on.
"Clever girl," he said, remembering, and glanced upward.
A hole appeared where his eye had been, and his body rocked backward. THen his head exploded.
An hour earlier...
Helena stared at the round. The last round for her sniper rifle. SHe had been saving it for Mongul, should he ever come after her again.
It was a special round, made from recombinant energy. SLightly unstable. It had two triggers to it: a metal impact, and a biological impact. The metal impact - from being fired - would prime the bullet. When it impacted something biological, it would explode, leaving no trace of the bullet or what had caused the explosion.
When she had trained with the Marine's as a sniper, her Drill Sergeant had taught her, "The best killers leave no trace." Glancing down at the number in her hand, she smiled to herself.
It would do her old teacher proud, she thought, to be terminated by the student who had surpassed him. His last thought would be of her, and the name he had given her.
Helena 'Oneshot' Logan.