Weiss was falling. Ruby panicked. Yang froze. The assassin turned and ran. For a moment, time stood still. Blake knew she needed to save Weiss. There were only stadium seats far beneath her. She would never survive the fall. But, the attacker… Blake had to catch him; find out who he was. She weighed the options, made her decision, and dove off the catwalk toward her teammate.
She caught Weiss, turned and threw Gambol Shroud up into to the rafters as she did before. It caught a beam (Possibly the same one) and stopped their fall. Blake heard gunshots and looked up to see Yang blasting away up at where the assassin stood. By this point, he was already gone. Ruby had made her way to a platform a few feet to Blake's side.
This was easier when it was just me, Blake thought to herself as she struggled not to drop her poisoned teammate. Her head was still spinning from the blow from the assassin's staff and Weiss was getting heavy. It definitely didn't help that her small shudders had turned to constant jerks, as if being repeatedly electrified. Blake was losing her grip.
Ruby called out from her platform, "Blake! Toss her over!"
Blake started to swing herself toward Ruby until she gained the strength and momentum to "throw" Weiss over to her. Ruby caught her arm and pulled her up. As she set Weiss down, Blake swung herself over and nimbly landed on the catwalk next to them.
"She's locking up!" Ruby yelled to her teammates as she examined Weiss.
"Can't… move," Was all Weiss could say through the pain.
"What do we do?" Yang asked as she ran over.
"We have to get her to a hospital," Ruby answered.
"What about the assassin? We can't just let him get away."
"We don't have a choice! Weiss will die if we don't get her out of here!"
Blake remained silent while thoughts raced through her head: the assassin; the attack; Weiss; Jaune; almost her. She had the same debate in her mind that Ruby and Yang were having aloud.
Blake finally spoke up, "Ruby, call the paramedics. Tell them to get ready for a poisoned patient. Yang, contact Professor Ozpin. Tell him everything that's happened: the attack, the assassin, Jaune, Weiss, everything. Make it fast. Then, you need to get Weiss to the paramedics as quickly as possible."
Ruby nodded in approval, accepting Blake's call to leadership, and pulled out her Scroll to make the call.
"What about you?" Yang inquired of her partner.
"The assassin… I'm going after him," Blake answered.
"Okay then. I'll come with you," Yang responded, cocking Ember Celica.
"No," Blake warned her off. "Weiss needs medical attention now. Ruby's not strong enough to carry her all the way back down from here by herself. She needs your help."
"You can't face him alone."
"I have to. Yang, this is something I need to do."
"Why?"
Blake finally let the truth out, "Because I know him."
Before Yang could respond to her words, Blake turned and ran, making chase after the assassin. She leapt through the rafters to find the closest exit to outside the stadium. After their encounter with him along the system of catwalks, she assumed he would continue to use them to reach a window or hole in the wall. A man of his stature decked out with his armor and weaponry would never make it past security or civilians. He would stay high and hidden.
Blake finally found his way out when she spied an air duct with the grate ripped off. She had forgotten his metahuman strength. He was in a hurry and assumed he'd be far enough away that she wouldn't catch him. She was determined to prove him wrong. She jumped into the vent and crawled through.
The duct brought her to a lower portion of the roof with a large billboard at the edge that turned out to be advertising the Schnee Dust Company. Now that she was outside, Blake realized just how late it was. It was getting close to midnight at this point.
There was no sign of the assassin. The Faunus scanned the area for anything that could tell her where he went. Either he got away or…
"I knew you'd follow me."
Blake turned to see the assassin pouncing down from atop the billboard. He landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground, and placed his blade at her throat.
"You kids are so predictable," he gloated.
"What do you want, Slade?" Blake shouted at him.
He leaned away from her and brought his sword from her neck. "So, you figured it out. Took you long enough," he said as he pulled his mask up onto his forehead, revealing his face. "Hello, Blake."
Blake kicked him away and rolled out from under him, drawing Gambol Shroud. "Bounty hunting? Not really in the best shape for it, don't you think? Last time I saw you, you had both your eyes."
Slade stood up straight. "Professionally, I'm going by Deathstroke now. And as for the eye, turns out your White Fang assassins are better shots than I gave them credit for," he explained, motioning to his eyepatch. "Even blinded on one side, though, I'm still the best goddamn assassin in Remnant. But enough about me. Look at you. Gone from a thieving rebel to a Huntress in training. Adam must be proud," he said sarcastically.
His comment about her former partner incited anger in Blake. "Don't talk about Adam!"
Deathstroke looked amused. "I must have hit a nerve. Guess leaving the White Fang wasn't so easy for you."
"Like it was for you?"
"Turns out your leaders didn't like being told they were idiots and were gonna get everyone killed. When they cut the payments, I had no further reason to stay. But looks like you made it okay without me. I assume Adam's the reason for that."
"Why do you care? You never liked him anyway."
"He was an angry fool who let his aggression drive him more than his thoughts. Turned simple jobs into pointless bloodbaths. But he could more than handle himself in a fight. I knew you'd stay alive with him."
Blake decided to cut to the point. "If you were so concerned about me staying alive, why'd you sign on to kill me?"
"Same reason I signed on to help your cause five years ago: I'm being paid a hell of a lot of money to do it. But, like I said before, I'm only being paid to keep your team out of my employer's way. I don't have to kill any of you," Slade said as he walked over and leaned against the billboard's supports, looking out over the city. He was vulnerable, but confidant. He knew she wouldn't underestimate him.
"But you chose to put a bullet in me, anyway!" Blake responded with anger.
"Yes I did. Seemed like the quickest solution at the time. But it's been awhile since I've killed huntresses and you're better than I recall," the bounty hunter said as he turned to face her. "So the plan changed. And now here you are, still alive."
Blake was astonished at how casual he was about his words. "Am I supposed to be thanking you?!"
"No. You're supposed to be surrendering to me."
"That'd make me easier to kill, wouldn't it?"
Slade sighed. "Blake, this isn't one of your novels. Stop assuming the cliches here. Don't play the part of the hero," he said. "Be the survivor. You know me. You know what I can do. If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it a dozen times over by now. I'm trying to help you out here, for old time's sake. Believe it or not, I take no pleasure in killing friends. But I won't let that stop me from finishing a job. The only thing that will is a promise to my employers that you will keep your nose out of their business."
The Faunus-girl wasn't buying it. "A promise? Really? If someone is offering enough money to get you interested, I highly doubt a vow of obedience is going to tide them over."
Wilson replied, "More like a promise followed by the constant threat of a bullet until my employers are done with their plans or decide a new fate for you and your team. Regardless, though, I'm still getting paid."
Blake, wanting more information, asked, "Who are your employers? Why do they want my team out of their way?"
The hired killer smirked at her question. "Who? You know I can't tell you that. As to why, I don't know or care. But, based on the size of my paycheck, I'm guessing you really pissed them off."
Roman Torchwick was the first to come to mind, but he was already in prison. It must be whoever else he was working with.
"So, what's it going to be?" Slade asked.
Blake didn't respond. She didn't know how. This was a lot to take in.
"Wow. I give you a chance to save yourself and your friends, and you say nothing. You do realize the magnitude of what I'm offering, don't you? If you were anyone else, you'd be dead and I'd be depositing a huge check right now."
"I'm not just answering for me. I have a team. A team who still thinks they're invincible; that they are the masters of their world. A team who doesn't know the situation; the stakes. And they don't know the man sent to hunt them."
"Sounds like you've got some explaining to do then."
Slade tossed something to Blake. She caught it and looked it over. It was a small cylinder with a single button on the side and a microphone on one end. "What is this?" she asked.
The mercenary responded, "It's a communicator. In case you can convince your friends that there are other options besides suicide."
"You're still giving me a chance?" the Faunus asked while observing the communicator. She half expected it to explode.
"Blake, I like you. You're a good kid. I'm letting you live, but I'm not letting you go. I'm giving you an opportunity. Waste it, and I'll be back. And I won't be bringing any more chances for you."
Blake looked up to see Deathstroke sliding his helmet back down and walking towards the edge of the building. He stopped at the ledge and turned back, his mask sending a much colder and more intimidating message. His voice muffled by the helmet, making it even more frightening, he warned her, "You have twenty-four hours. If I don't hear back, I will come for you. If you try to run, I will catch you. If you try to track me down, I will be waiting for you. If you still know me at all, you know death awaits at the end of each of these paths. One way or another, I'll see you soon, Blake."
With that, he turned and leaped off the ledge. Blake watched him go, looked down at the communicator in her hand, and turned to go meet up with her teammates, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.
A/N: This was one of my favorite scenes to write. The relationship between Slade and Blake was one of the biggest things to me with this story. When I came up with the idea, it went: 1. Deathstroke is the bad guy; 2. There's this old relationship between him and Blake. The next chapter will explain this a lot more. And buckle up. It's gonna be a long one.