Disclaimer: Owning teen titans and the world's finest is like owning Summer. Only if I was some kind of all powerful being could it happen. =P Mortal here.

Yeah, it's only been... a month? well trying to get this chapter done felt like pulling teeth some times. I really wanted to get it done before going to the phoenix comicon, but that was last week and I didn't. oops. Anyway, writing this was harder than the other chapters because I wanted to do a fight scene. In the end I just kinda gave up. So rubbish fast fight in there with an allusion to another fight that had taken place. One character is more based off the YJ version but that's what I had to work with. *shrug* sorry if the fight scene sucks. I'm trying to keep my attention here, but I've got a lot of open files and projects I bounce around with.

Anywho, enjoy!

Slade Plan B

Ch. 14 – Assassin's Run

"Found them?"

"Think so." Superman hovered over the big top, using his many visions to find their targets. Batman crouched on top of Haley's trailer, almost protecting the man Dick first considered a grandfather. He waited for the man of steel to make the first move.

"They're spread out through the camp," he noted, a frown growing on the alien's face.

The dark knight nodded, grunting slightly. "Figured as much. Easier to get their targets. They may not even know there are others in the camp."

"Then how will we find them all?" The kryptionian looked around, marking where each supposed and reported assassin was that night. A handful of them were awake, doing seemingly normal tasks. One of them jerked after a moment, then looked around before taking a small radio out of his back pocket.

"Slade has to contact them somehow," Batman reminded him. "We find out how from one of our solid leads, then trace the signal. Any other receivers around here and we'll know for certain. May even find a few we missed."

"It's a handheld radio." His friend jerked at the casual observation. "Black and orange with an 'S' on the front. Not a very nice 'S' either. Pretty jaggety. There aren't any code words, just 'business as usual' from the other end."

Batman stared at the alien in silence for a moment before standing, reaching into his belt for a grapple. "Where?"

"Next to the tigers. Green vest. I think the FBI profile said guy goes by 'Sling Shot'." Superman looked back to the dark knight. "Do you want this one or should I—"

Already a line shot from the man's hands, swinging him down to where the cages were. Superman gave a heavy sigh before resuming his search. Bats could get them to talk, but finding them was his job. Until they knew just how many there were and how good they were at their jobs, they had to take it slow.

Once they had the intel, there was no stopping them.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the top assassin, Sling Shot was a four. He was also pretty weak willed. It only took Batman five minutes to subdue him, hang him over the highest wire, and start interrogating him. Already the guy's pants were wet. Within ten minutes they had the information they wanted, plus the gaudy communicator.

During the interrogation, Superman stayed outside, looking for all the other possible assassins around the camp. He purposely blocked out his comrade's methods of questioning. There were just some things in this world he rather not think about, and what Bats did with a criminal behind closed doors was one of them. And when Robin was involved, he really didn't care.

"They were contacted separately," Batman told him, joining him outside. "They don't even know who their competitors are."

"Competitors eh? Sounds like Slade's playing a dangerous game here."

"One with a time limit," he agreed. "Apparently the circus was to be watched for a year, then burned to the ground unless told otherwise or if they aren't contacted once in forty-eight hours."

"I've kept my ears open for the same ring tone as that one earlier," the man of steel stated. "I've heard it twice in the past half hour. So not as many as we thought?"

"If I were him," the Bat started, glaring further into the abyss, "then I'd stagger the calls throughout the two days. Make it harder for anyone to find them that way. Also make it easier to contact him if things go wrong. Memorized his voice?"

"Think so," Superman retorted, imitating their first catch's voice perfectly.

The dark knight tinkered with the communicator as they spoke, attaching it to his wrist computer. Within minutes he found a way to locate the other ones within the grounds. Thankfully, these communicators were similar to his old design, the one Robin now used with the Titans. Useful, but easy for him to hack. A holoscreen appeared above his wrist, giving the locations of the rest of them. There were ten in total.

"Good. After they're taken in, you'll be taking Slade's calls."

"Figured as much." The alien looked over the map shrewdly before nodding. "I'll grab the two I heard first. You grab a couple then we'll meet back up here in twenty minutes. Sounds good?"

"If Sling Shot is any indication, it might take a little more than that." For a moment Batman was reminded of the names that stuck out to him. Cheshire wasn't one to go down easy, and neither was Ragdoll. Getting the two of them out of the troupe would be harder than they liked. Just where would they be placed around here? They should hold off on them until they had taken care of the other C listers.

"Maybe." Superman looked towards where his next target was and zoomed off, yanking three gunmen out of their beds before they could scream. The Bat shook his head as he started towards the two he spotted going towards the animal cages.

As far as plans went, for once theirs went smoothly. Between the two of them, they managed to identify and grab about a dozen lower ranked assassins, taking their communicators and having Superman memorize each of their voices and code phrases as they went. At one point in their operation, a Slade-com went off, forcing the man of steel to stop part way through to answer it.

Immediately he hated the voice on the other end. Smooth as silk, dark as night, and as menacing as Lex Luthor on a bad day. This man had plans, and none of them were good. Despite wanting to reach through the com and wringing the man's neck on the other end, Superman gave the answering code phrase for that particular contact and hung up as expected. He just bought Robin a little more time.

The moon was starting to set when the two long time associates reconvened at the big top. The higher ranked assassins were left, and they didn't have much time.

"Ever met this 'Sizzler' before?" the Kryptonian asked, eyeing his friend.

"No, but I have dealt with Ragdoll. Green Arrow and Speedy know Cheshire. She'll be the wild card."

"Wild card?" That was odd, even for the caped crusader to say. "How?"

"She's known to defy orders for her own ends when she's with a group," Batman noted.

"And because I'm right behind you."

Both men jerked around poised to fight when they heard her feline like voice. Neither had sensed or heard her come. Even her heartbeat seemed nonexistent. This young girl was good. The only thing they could guess was she was smiling behind that mask of hers.

"I have to say, I'm very curious," she started, twirling her sais playfully. She seemed to have no interest in fighting them at the moment. "Why are two Justice League members, two of the big three, interested in protecting this little circus? I've heard of this troupe before Slade offered the job a couple months back, but really, it's not a threat and it isn't protecting someone important. They aren't rich either. Mind telling me why Deathstroke made such an easy job and you two are taking out the competition?"

They didn't say a word for a moment, but as it became clear she wasn't planning on attacking, Batman slowly eased his stance. "Personal reasons."

"Hm. Must be." She must have looked up and down the two for a few minutes before tossing them her communicator. "Passcode's Alice, last contact around noon today. I for one am not getting in the middle of a personal war between the League and him. Besides, I've got a better job offer elsewhere. Just wanted to know what the big deal was about. Tootles."

With that she sheathed her weapons and leapt off her perch, disappearing into the night. A confused Superman was about to go after her when Batman stopped him. "But she might—"

"GA reported she's a freelancer. She has no loyalties to anyone and she isn't foolish. Cheshire avoids the League in general or any job that might involve her with us. But if it suits her," he indicated to the Slade-com, "she will help whomever she chooses."

"She's still an assassin," the man of steel countered.

"There will be other days." The man's determination reappeared on his face. "Robin shouldn't wait any longer than necessary."

Duly reminded, Superman nodded his consent. He looked back to the tents and trailers, then to the Bat. "Right. Which one's next?"

"You grab Sizzler. Ragdoll's mine."

"Knew that contortionist couldn't be good." He gave his friend a smile before dashing off to the far side of the grounds. Batman sent off a grapple, swinging to where he believed his target was.

Haley's current, and soon to be former, contortionist was a restless sleeper to say the least. And he snored. Because of this, he was condemned to sleeping in his own small tent. This only made things easier for Batman to grab him. Like all the others he had detained, the Bat first gagged him with a strong, adhesive puddy before pulling him out of bed.

If it were any other low ranking assassin, the initial shock would have kept him silent and struggling for a few minutes, long enough for Batman to get him away and tied up. But Ragdoll wasn't just a contortionist. He spent time in Arkham. Instantly he was awake, bringing out the knives he had hidden all around his person, even while sleeping. He quickly wriggled out of Batman's hands and started slicing at him, moving in very inhuman ways.

The dark knight barely managed to dodge a slice down his arm before throwing his trademark weapons at him to throw him off guard. The contortionist easily avoided them before launching himself at the hero. Bladed knuckles tried to dive into his armored chest, but were easily deflected before cutting flesh. Batman pushed aside another blow, forcing the assassin back just as the bataranges finished their return trip, ramming into the guy's head and back. As he reflexively arched backwards from the blows, his opponent kicked in his stomach, cracking a few ribs in the process. His cognitive senses jarred and the wind knocked clear out of him, his gag still well in place, Ragdoll collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Batman coldly stepped closer to the man, then stomped on his back to make certain he wasn't getting back up on his own anymore. Satisfied, he grabbed both the man's forearms, knocked the elbows together, then applied the same sticky puddy he used as a gag to bind them together. He then reached down to the assassin's legs and firmly bound all the easily twisted limbs together in the same gooey mess.

The dark knight scooped up some dirt off the ground and tossed it over substance before rubbing what was left of the puddy off his gloves. Wonderful invention that one. Stuck to everything but what was coated in an opposing sleek substance, which also happened to make items fireproof. Batman's uniform was coated in it, making the puddy very effective against his enemies and not himself. He had to give the guy who invented it a raise.

The detective spent a few minutes searching for the Slade communicator before he threw the assassin over his shoulder, dragging him back to the rendezvous point. Batman searched his person before tossing him next to the others. He looked up after a moment when he heard a slight whistling. Superman was gliding down towards him, the last assassin barely hanging from his singed hand.

"Got anything to stop pyro-metas in that belt of yours?"

His friend didn't even blink as he reached into his belt and pulled out a capsule and tossed it to him. "Should insulate him from giving off any heat signatures. Exactly what does he do?"

"Very hot hands." The alien rubbed his jaw in annoyance. "Has a mean punch too. Any trouble with yours?"

"No more than usual."

His comrade nodded before dropping the assassin on the ground, closely followed by the pellet. Some kind of high density, fire resistant, silicon foam, gushed out and all over the man called 'Sizzler'. It hardened after a moment, making him easy pickings for the two of them to take away later. "Did you get your guy's communicator?"

"It broke," Batman growled distastefully. "What he has to say would be useless."

"So we're on the clock now."

"Looks it." Both exchanged looks of exasperation. This was still going to be a long night.

A/N: Yeah, like I said, kinda gave up on the Ragdoll fight. Was going to have Chesh fight too at first, but thought it over and decided her self preservation instincts would stop her from going head to head with those two. I really like her in YJ. She seems like a really real villain/antihero to me.

Geh, now I have to cook up some more talking chapters before I finally save Robin. The titans are coming back of course and those communicators are far more valuable than they look.

FYI, there's a poll on my profile. For my next series/listing why it takes me so long to get back to posing more of this. yeah, I've started three of them to tell the truth, adn one's a series of one shots. Please take it and see how my brain just doesn't stop, even when I should be working on something else. XP