Louie's Leftovers, Starling City Underground
"God this place really brings out the dregs," Sara complained, looking around in disgust at the hazy bar Deadshot had set up as a meeting place.
"Let's just get our info and get out," Mick agreed.
"Ah yes, the high-class criminals, so above us barbarians," a voice to their left mocked. The two thieves turned to find Floyd Lawton grinning up at them from a booth.
"Deadshot," Sara intoned as a way of greeting.
"Sara Lance, Mick Rory," the one-eyed assassin replied in kind. "What can I do for two of the most famous thieves in the country?"
"Information," Mick said.
"Ah, now that's gonna cost you," Deadshot informed him.
"How much?" Sara asked.
"What do you want to know about?"
"The Panther"
"$300"
"That much?" Mick sputtered.
Deadshot shrugged, "He's a touchy subject."
Mick and Sara exchanged a look, then paid it.
"So, what do you want to know about the most famous mercenary in Starling?" Deadshot wondered.
"Everything you know," Sara answered.
"Well, he's certainly a unique fellow. Doesn't take every job he gets offered. If he doesn't like it, he'll refuse it, no matter the pot. He never murders children, or innocent women. Most of his cases are good people or scumbags hire him to take out other scumbags or make them leave. And he may not take every job, but once he agrees to a contract, his word is gold. Most of the people around here," Deadshot motioned to the rest of the room, "they'll kill for money, but they won't die for it. The Panther's the exception. He'd rather die than have a breach of contract. He also never takes multiple contracts at a time, and he asks for all his money up front, before he performs the job." Floyd finished, "Anything else?"
"You've worked a couple jobs with him," Sara stated.
"I wouldn't classify that as working with him," Deadshot maintained, "It was more, I was paid to kill a man that the Panther needed dead."
"Three nights ago," Sara continued, "Me and my...associate were attacked in our hotel room by the Panther. While he was leaving, my associate was shot by a sniper. How do I know it wasn't you?"
Deadshot smiled, "Because, pretty lady, if I had been the sniper, your associate would be dead."
They were interrupted by a couple of drunks who shouted from the bar, "Look, it's one half of the Lawton twins. Well, the alive half that is."
"You have a twin?" Sara asked
"I did," Deadshot admitted, "Karl Lawton. I used to do jobs with him. We were a tandem. Until his plane went down over the Amazon two years ago. Now he gets mocked by common thugs," and he raised his wrist-gun and shot both men.
"Well," Mick continued, unperturbed by the display of violence, "That'll be all."
"Pleasure doing business with you."
As they were walking back, Mick turned to Sara, "What do you think?"
"I think he knew more than he let on, so I put a bug on the table." She opened up a speaker, and the two thieves listened in.
"So?" Sara stiffened, she looked at Mick That's the Panther she mouthed.
"I gave em the regular spiel," Deadshot answered.
"I heard, it was very flattering. Especially the dying for a contract part."
"Hey that wasn't a compliment. Makes my job a lot harder. Zoe would never forgive me if I let her favorite uncle get killed." Sara's eyes widened. Uncle? That meant that-
"It was a nice touch, mentioning my death."
"Figured you'd like it. The best lies often contain a lot of truth. That plane crash damn near did kill you."
Sara shut off the speaker. She turned to Mick. "The Panther is Karl Lawton."
Mick nodded, "And Deadshot is working with him."
This trip had turned out to be profitable indeed.
The Lawton Crib
"Fuck!" Floyd yelled.
"What?" Karl wondered.
"The fuckers bugged me!" Deadshot spat. He held up a listening device off his suit.
"Son of a bitch," Karl swore.
"Well, they know who you are now," Floyd announced, angry at himself. How could he have been so stupid? It was going to be a costly mistake. Suddenly he caught sight of his brother. Karl was pale as a sheet. "What?" Floyd demanded.
"They don't only know about me now," Karl whispered, looking like he had just seen a ghost. "They know about Zoe."
Floyd felt his own face go as pale as his brother's as he realized, with a sickening realization, that he had just inadvertently exposed his daughter to the enemy.
