Summary: should be known by now^^

Disclaimer: should be known by now, the picture is the wonderful actor Matt Bomer don't own either^^

- this fic will remain pure gen, however I have a few slashy ideas so I may write a few little drabbles with porn in a separate collection

"And killing can be a necessary evil", Slade added smoothly and after a moment of silence ... Dick nodded.

I can never return to them, realised Dick as his muscles moved. Killing a psycho before the person could bomb a city was the right thing to do wasn't it? Yes, he could do it, he would do it once it came down to it. He didn't even use the word 'if' in such a scenario, the world was a place where such things happened. But murderers used to be evil, plain and simple. Now? Now everything was muddy, grey, and he hated it.

"Where is the line?", he asked, his voice getting weak again, he desperately wanted a line to guide him," where is the line between killing because you really help and killing because you are a criminal?" It almost made him want his old world back, ignore the bad guy and follow the older heroes because this was how the world used to spin, but his decision was right and he still a good person wasn't he? No, he wouldn't go back, he wouldn't be blamed for their ignorance. He still helped and saved people, he simply didn't feel like the bad guy the other heroes wanted him to see in him.

Slade leaned forward and Dick rested his head on the man's shoulder, seeking the comfort the older man offered to him. "Every thing you chose to do or just don't do has consequences. In the heat of a battle you can't have a moral discussion so you need to make them before, if you don't you will only suffer of an emotional backlash again. The invasion and your depression were a prime example for it, you made the right choice but you weren't consciously prepared. I know you don't want this answer, but child, the simple truth is that there are no lines. There are grey areas and currently you are moving in one of them."

Dick pulled back," than tell me oh great one", he demanded in an angry, slightly sarcastic tone," how do you get through this mess with your stoic attitude?"

Slade simply chuckled and pulled Dick back to him, "What others may think of as cold behaviour, as heartless, is in truth nothing but a professional prepared person who fully understands his actions and the consequences of it. Yes, being to a war, being forced to kill to survive, made it easier for me to understand. There is a mutual understanding you kill or the other man will kill you and the enemy understands because he thinks the same thing. It is much more complicated in this so-called civilized world. Every life is a part of something bigger and you have to decide if the consequences are good or bad before. Being a mindless minion is easy, but being a professional mercenary is complicated at times."

"All you are doing is giving me more questions", replied Dick in a tired voice, his head still on the older man's shoulder.

"If you want to be a mindless follower than you are wasting my time kid", answered Slade in a suddenly cold voice,"I understand you are tired child", the tone had gotten soft again," since we agree that killing can be times at right I will train you and we see which of those questions actually concern you."

He needed those skills didn't he? Yes and honestly who was better to teach him than Deathstroke the Terminator? But still one more thing bothered him," what do you gain from this?" asked Dick finally as he turned to look into the steel-grey eye.

"Someone I can be proud of to call my apprentice", answered Slade.

This was not nearly as much of a surprise as it could have been, but why not? Bruce lack of action as one of the founding seven spoke for itself and it wasn't like he would lose any contacts by staying with Slade was it? As his apprentice he represented the man so he would get the best equipment money could buy, the gym was already an appetizer for it, wasn't it? So why not?

"How exactly does one train to kill", he asked honestly curious.

Okay how the hell should he react? Wally had a minor break down as he realised just what his best-friend was doing to make himself feel better. Admittedly there were worse things than sex, but sex with a guy who could pass as his grandfather? That was just nasty. For crying out loud he hadn't even known that bird brain swung for the same team, anyway not really any of his business. Now if Dick was staying with the guy he couldn't just wait for him at the apartment. Hopefully next night he could catch the blue bird in action and get a conversation without involving curious boyfriends...

The sly devil, Lex Luthor wasn't a man to be easily impressed, but seeing the news about Nightwing's leave just screamed of Slade's work. If the boy wasn't already claimed he might have tried to use the situation to his advantage. The child had more information than any computer of the other heroes and human's could be far more easily be broken down to give those information away. Honestly just how stupid could the heroes be? Nevermind it wasn't his problem, yet it could become his advantage the wonderful thing about mercenaries was that they had a price or maybe Slade might be pushed into gloating about his success. He had a feeling that this was going to become something big and Lex Luthor was never a man to miss an opportunity.