DC Gothic – Red-X
Part 25
Slade's Hideout – Jump City
I just didn't think my new outfit suited me. Wearing it made me feel like I was in a pair of pjs, but at least the silly costume was all black and it allowed me to move by body freely. That was going to useful as this morning I would be helping to train Wilson's daughter, Rose, in hand to hand combat.
"Ah, Rose" greeted Slade as his child entered his room you "We have been waiting for you".
That hadn't been a criticism, it was just a comment so Rose didn't take any offence.
"I'm ready now" she said
The girl was eager. That was good to hear as while in theory I could live forever that didn't mean I wanted to waste my time.
"Is this really necessary?" the young woman then asked.
Rose was now tugging at her new costume's gloves. In a lot of ways it made her look like her father. The biggest difference was the metal mask, Rose didn't have one, but she had shortened and then dyed her blonde hair so that it was now jet black. Also she had a sword strapped to her back. The over all effect was kinda hot.
"Yes, as my apprentice, you must wear the uniform" Slade was now saying "And the change in your appearance will help to keep you safe".
Rose then looked me, and then at her father.
"His outfit doesn't look anything like his" she pointed out "I mean the one with skull face, not what ever he's wearing now".
Slade at least had an answer.
"Red-X already had an established identity" Deathstroke told his offspring "And wearing the suit gives him a psychological edge over the leader of the Teen Titans".
Plus it was an advanced piece of tech that I knew how to use. Giving it up would just be foolish. Besides just owning it was driving the Boy Wonder up the wall and that was so much fun.
"Okay I have another question" the girl said "How'd the heck did you know my size?"
No doubt she found it worrying that her father knew her measurements. I also found it a little creepy.
"I have my ways" was all Wilson had to say on the matter "You shouldn't be concerned by such things. You have other matters to focus on".
Like combat training.
"Such as?" Rose inquired.
"Naturally you won't be using the name 'Rose' while you are wearing that uniform" Slade was now saying "Soon you will need to chose a new identity for yourself".
I could think of a few names for a sexy female assassin.
"Yeah…about that. I was thinking…the Ravager" Rose then said.
That had not been one of the names I'd have given her, but clearly it floated her boat.
"Very well…Ravager" Slade said with a nod of what I assumed was approval "Your training begins today".
That was cue to get to work so I walked onto the mat and readied myself.
"Red-X will be your instructor for the time being" Deathstroke explained.
Ravager was not pleased by this.
"My instructor!" she exclaimed "He's no older then I am!
Age didn't always have much to do with skill, or wisdom.
"Apprentice you will do as I tell you" Slade said "He is your instructor. He is going to teach you for now, and when you are ready I will take over".
Ravager folded her arms to show her disapproval and I decided that she so needed to have her ass kicked by me.
"And what's he going to teach me?" Rose then asked.
This time I could answer the question.
"How to fight meta-humans" I told her.
She could handle herself well enough to deal with normal human beings. No mugger would ever get the better of her, but when it came to super beings a person needed to up their games as it were.
Ravager dropped into a fighting stance when she got onto the mat and that made me smirk.
"Draw your sword" I ordered.
Ravager just gave me a confused looks so I gestured toward the blade that was slung over her back.
"Your sword" I clarified "Take it out your going to use it".
Ravager drew her sword and smiled. Which she had a right to as she was armed with a deadly kanata and I had no weapons.
"Now attack" I instructed.
Ravager swung at me and I ducked under it easily while still smirking at her. Ravager gritted her teeth and swung at me again, lower this time and I dodged that too. I could have counter attacked then, but I just didn't feel the desire too. My lust for battle seemed to have faded since the end of that blasted tournament.
Rose was now getting mad I could see it in her eyes. She brought the sword over her head and swung it down. I just side-stepped to right so tar the blade buried itself into the mat.
Ravager was beyond mad now, she was furious. I could imagine that she was thinking that I was making a fool out of her, and that was true I was in fact trying to make her look silly. After all I was also Slade's apprentice and I didn't want to be replaced, so I had to make it clear that I was still the better choice. If only so I'd still inherit Wilson's fortune.
"Have we started yet?" I asked my sparring opponent "I don't have all day here. I have plans you know".
They actually involved taking her out, but she didn't know that yet.
Ravager growled and tried to stab me, only I span out of the way of the blow and then I elbowed her in the back as she went past me. Compared to the likes of Batgirl she was slow so I had plenty of time to react.
Rose had stumbled and fallen to the ground, but she stood up again quickly and she didn't seem to hurt.
"Okay, here's what you did wrong" I said to Slade's brat "Don't let your feelings get in the way of your rational thinking. It happens to all of us, it's happened to me. I've even used to defeat people more experienced than me, but you can't afford it if you're taking on a meta-humans who want to kill you".
Ravager had listened to what I had to say before she said anything.
"Aren't you afraid that eventually I'll be able to cut you?" Rose then asked me That I might even kill you? I mean, it's not going to happen today, but if I practice enough".
Given that I'd already been stabbed a couple of time I did not want to go through it again, but since I'd also survived both of those stabbings I wasn't too worried about getting sliced open.
"The sword was just for this lesson" I then explained "I let you use it because I wanted you to realize that just because you're armed and I'm not, doesn't mean you have an advantage. I have the experience and the skills to kill you even though you have armour and weapons".
In order to prove my point I attacked Ravager. I twisted her arm and then took her sword off her before putting the blade to her neck.
"See what I mean".
Hopefully she did or the next time some meta-human crook got his hands on her she would either end up dead, or at least in the hospital.
"That's enough for today" Slade then said "I think Ravager would benefit from facing a robotic foe".
She did need more basic training, and I frankly had better things to do than teach a novice.
"I'm going to go shower first" Rose then informed us "It's hot in this outfit".
It took some effort, but I managed not to think about her in the shower.
"X" Slade then said as he moved to the bank of computers on the farside of the room "I have something to share with you".
Intrigued I followed my boss over the machines and then I saw some pictures that made me go from feeling a little horny to feeling very angry. The screens were now full of images of Ubu, who for some reason was here in Jump City.
"What's this about" I asked my employer.
"Ubu is here looking for you" Slade informed me "He was ordered by Talia al Ghul to find out how you survived".
It sounded as if Ra's al Ghul was dead, which made me wonder if Slade had killed the centuries old man. Not that it really mattered to me as I right now was more worried about how Raven would react when she next saw me. Also given that I was back in town I should contact Jinx at some point to see if she still wanted to get back together, she at least could keep things casual. But that might not be such a good idea if Slade wanted to to peer bond with his daughter.
"I want you to kill him" Slade said very bluntly.
While him saying that didn't come as a total surprise it still hit me hard. I'd known that Deathstroke would want me to take a human life sooner or later, and I had planned to deal with that situation when I had to. Now that it was here I found that the idea didn't seem to terrible. Ubu was no innocent, and he had technically murdered me so I figured that I was entitled to some revenge.
"We will of course treat this as it were a proper contract" Wilson was now saying "I have already forward half the payment to your account, and upon completion the rest of your payment be transferred".
I wasn't sure how to process that. This had gone from me getting some payback to being a contract killing. Which was against my morals as I was a crook not an assassin I had no desire to take lives in exchange for cash.
Morality aside this was a big step up, or possibly down, from being a thief. Also the money being offered was good and I did have my future to think about. Plus if I refused I had to then consider what Slade would do to me. He couldn't kill me, but if he discovered that I was immortal then I had no idea what he'd do to me.
Running away wasn't really an option as Slade would just track me down again. I was stuck in his web, and the only way to get out of it was for Wilson to die, but I didn't think I could kill someone like him. Not if I couldn't kill a thug like Ubu.
Which made it tempting to kill the guy just so I could find out if I could end a human life on purpose.
"I'll do it" I decided "Just tell me where he is".
(Line Break)
Docks – Jump City
Slade had already done most of the work in advance. He had already located Ubu for me and now I just had to kill the guy. Which in theory should be rather simple. Only I'd never set out to kill anyone before yet I was one hundred percent sure that I could do it. The guy had killed me first so it seemed right.
Ubu was here in Jump City to find out about me, to discover how I was still alive. How exactly he was suppose to do that was a mystery to me because not many people knew much about me. So I suspected that actually he was suppose to find me and do a proper job of killing me, or maybe even drag me back to his masters so they could figure out how I had survived being poisoned and stabbed.
However I suspected that Ubu was actually working for Deathstroke as a sort of double agent, and that Slade didn't need the guy anymore for some reason that I couldn't even guess. Not that it really mattered as Ubu was going to die. That was just how things had to be.
Besides I was suppose to take Rose out to dinner tonight and that meant I didn't have the time to fuss over exactly why Slade wanted Ubu dead, and I was starting to care less and less, this was about me not Deathstroke. I was going along with his schemes until I could find some way to free myself from his grasp.
Which would involve me stabbing him in the back at some point, and I was pretty sure it would be a literal way. I even had a cool magic weapon to kill him with. But that could wait as I was still benefiting from this whole apprenticeship deal.
As I located Ubu, who was standing alone behind a warehouse, I realised that I hadn't actually decided how I would kill the guy.
I had a lot of options. I could have used one of Slade's many sniper rifles to ice the guy from a safe distance, and given the size of the guy, combined with the fact that he was also a deadly killer, then that would have been the smart choice.
On the other hand I wanted this guy to see me coming. I wanted him to know that it was me who had killed him and I wanted to make his passing hurt so badly that when he made it to hell he'd already be screaming.
To that end I had the perfect tool. The sickle I had taken from that Grim Reaper wannabe, it made killing easier and I was pretty sure that it was a powerfully enchanted weapon so it had to help with the fighting. Besides I intended to use it on Slade at some time soon so it was a good idea to see how effective it was at ending lives.
Since Ubu knew what Red-X looked like the under the mask I had decided to take if off. I wanted to see the eyes of my killer when I got my revenge and I wanted him to see mine.
However while I wasn't trying to hide who I was or what I intended to do that didn't mean I was going to just walk up the guy and try to stab him. I wasn't stupid as Ubu looked big enough to pulverise me in hand to hand combat, which meant I needed to be sneaky.
So instead of simply charging right at my target I took out my gun and aimed for the thugs leg. I wanted to cripple the guy before finishing him off with the sickle. That was the smart way to do this.
I carefully aimed and pulled the trigger. Only when I fired Ubu seemed to flicker and it took only half a second for me to figure out what I had just happened.
It was hologram and this was a trap. I didn't know if Slade was in on it, but even if he hadn't been he must of suspected that Ubu was just baut. But I didn't have time to think about that as I suddenly found myself surrounded by League of Shadows ninjas.
I opened fire again and killed two of the warriors before any of them could react. The rest of my shots missed as my foes were agile, but at the very least I had gotten a couple of them without suffering any injuries myself. Which was a good start if nothing else.
Since I knew that my gun wouldn't help me as much they got in close I holstered it. Then I felt the sickle in my hand and I watched as it grew into a scythe, it was a clumsy weapon but it felt good to hold and when the first ninja charged at me the killing tool proved its worth.
The assassin's blade met mine and then I swept my body so that when the ninja tried to strike again he went right past me, and then the man died as I slashed the magical weapon across his exposed back. Blood now coated the magical weapon and that gave me an odd sense of pleasure.
Another assassin died soon after that as our weapons locked and I was able to shoot him at point blank range while keeping my scythe in place with one hand. I barely had a moment to register the fact that I had just killed four people in a matter of seconds.
Once that was done I span on the spot and took in my surroundings. The other ninjas were holding back now, as if waiting for something.
It wasn't long until I saw Ubu for real. He was wearing clothing very different that the warriors around us, he looked causal in jeans and a white-shirt, however the Wolverine claws he had strapped to his wrists really didn't go with the rest of the look.
"You will..."
That was all Ubu got to say as suddenly Batman swooping down on us and I watched as he took the ninja's down with little trouble. I was so impressed that I almost forgot to run away.
Thankfully my legs remembered how to do that and before long I was disappearing into the night. I once more moved like a bat out of hell was chasing me, only this time my getaway was successful.