"So, do we have some kind of plan or something?" asked Slade, crossing his arms and looking directly at Nightwing.

The acrobat raised both eyebrows under his mask. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because between the three of us, you're our best chance of getting us out of this damn world." sighed the mercenary wearily in a way that suggested he would prefer not to say his words out loud at all.

The hero gave a huge grin and threw his arms around his former mentor's shoulders. "Aww! Don't get so sentimental with me, Slade! You can safely say I'm the best!" he joked.

Slade's one visible eye twitched and he growled, pushing away the vigilante who, dramatic as he is, pretended to fall and then got back on his feet with a backflip, a cocky grin on his face.

Talia rolled her eyes at the childish antics of the first Robin and turned directly to the 21-year-old. "As idiotic as you may be, your leadership skills are one of the few skills at which you excel." she huffed, practically forcing the words out of her mouth.

"A compliment from Talia! Now I think I'm dreaming!" Dick chuckled at the woman's glare before taking on a slightly more serious look. "First we need to find a secret hideout where we can stabilize at least for the beginning." he said.

"The good news is that I know the location of a safe house: it is located almost outside Gotham. The bad news is that I am not sure if this safe house even exists in this world." he informed them.

"Then lead the way, kiddo." grunted Deathstroke. "The night is coming, and I'm sure that no matter what the hell alternate universe we're in, Gotham is and always will remain a shithole."

Nightwing chuckled and Talia emitted a murmur of agreement. The former Robin motioned for them to follow him, and the strange trio began walking. "Gotham: the universal constant of a hellhole!" declared the acrobat, dramatically spreading his arms wide. "I could make a movie out of this."

"Grayson."

"Yes Talia?"

"Walk in silence."

"Just this once I'll accommodate you. But remember: just this once."


"Good news: apparently the shelter we seek also exists here." informed the last Flying Grayson with a smile, looking self-satisfied ahead.

Talia and Slade looked with great distrust at the old building in front of them, looking rather shabby and devoid of cheerful colors as if it had personally wronged the two murderers.

"I know I'm not a woman crazy about pink and flowers, but this looks too gray even for me." commented the daughter of the Demon Head, arching an eyebrow skeptically.

"I like it." decided Slade with a shrug, more to annoy the other assassin than anything else.

Judging by the way she clenched her fists, he succeeded.

Slade smirked.

"From the looks of the outside I doubt that anyone in this world has bothered to renovate it." Dick affirmed and then sighed. "I just hope the inside is better otherwise we're screwed."

"I've slept in worse places anyway," casually observed Deathstroke as the three entered the building.

"What was this structure formerly used for, Grayson?" asked Talia as she gently opened the shoddy wooden door as if she was afraid that if she used greater force the building would collapse into a thousand pieces.

"If I am not mistaken it was being used as a gathering place to momentarily house people or something like that. Unfortunately, however, the project didn't even last a year and was immediately closed and abandoned." the acrobat answered her, and Talia nodded in satisfaction at the answer.

In no more than six minutes, the three briefly toured the building, which consists of two floors, and returned to the room they thought was supposed to be the living room to make a brief recap.

"To recap: every single bedroom is out of commission since the floor is unstable." Dick began.

"And because the beds are missing." added the mercenary helpfully.

"Right." he nodded. "There is only one bathroom and surprisingly it is not only one of the cleanest rooms but seems to be working."

"I refuse to share toilets with crude and primitive people like you two." Talia protested with conviction, stubbornly crossing her arms.

"You cannot be a princess here, Al Ghul. Either you use this bathroom or you can go to the first person you meet and ask them if you can use their toilet." said Slade sarcastically.

"Not all people are as crass as you, Wilson." retorted Talia angrily, staring coldly at the mercenary. "Some of us appreciate our own hygiene, thank you." she finished in the same sarcastic tone as the older man.

Nightwing, who had meanwhile taken off his mask revealing his blue eyes, noticed how his former mentor's fingers twitched, as if he wanted to grab the sword attached to his back and stab Talia.

So Dick decided to physically put himself between the two assassins (and now that he thought about it, it probably wasn't one of his best ideas) to pull them slightly away from each other. "All right, that's enough. You've both made your point and that's enough."

They grumbled disgruntledly but no longer looked at each other as if they were planning how to kill each other, and the acrobat regarded it as a victory.

"Moving on we have a working refrigerator and three different couches to sleep on." he finally finished.

Slade grunted and spoke. "Good. We should go to sleep since we will need all our energy to face this fucking universe we still know nothing about."

"A decent idea." nodded Talia approvingly.

Slade forced himself to take a deep breath.

Calm down, Slade. Don't kill her. You're much more patient than that. Hell, you managed to train Richard for almost a year without voluntarily taking out your other eye!

"Well then." Dick turned on his heel and walked away, claiming the nearest couch. "I need a good night's sleep. If you dare to argue even during the night I will stick an escrima on each of your asses. Good night, beautiful people."

And with that he dropped dead weight onto the couch and without even waiting for a retort from them Dick was already out of the game.


Slade emitted a low laugh and he shook his head amused at Grayson's words. He turned to Ra's daughter, his lips lifted slightly upward. "Did you hear the kiddo? Let's go to bed and mind our own business before Richard puts his promise into action."

"As if he could." taunted Talia as she approached her couch.

Deathstroke's left eye twinkled in amusement as he lay back on his couch absentmindedly crossing his legs. "You know Talia, I never understood why you always thought so little of Grayson." he said with genuine curiosity in his voice.

Talia looked first at Slade then at Dick, and the mercenary emitted a small laugh. "Richard is sound asleep, I can hear his heartbeat going at a steady pace. However, if you even try to make a noise he will wake up even before you can blink."

Damian's mother raised an eyebrow. "It seems to me that you speak from personal experience." she pointed out, a hint of curiosity present in her tone of voice.

Slade curled his lips up slightly in a half-smile. "One time I tried to wake him up for training by shaking him, and the next second I found myself across the room with my head upside down." he confessed with a low, hoarse chuckle, not at all ashamed that Richard had thrown him around like a rag doll. "I blame the Bat paranoia."

Talia uttered a scornful noise as she made herself more comfortable with her hands behind her back.

At the woman's silence Slade sighed. "Listen to me carefully Talia because I'm giving you advice from assassin to assassin."

"I don't need your advice Wilson!"

The mercenary ignored her protest and continued as if she had never spoken in the first place. "Richard may act like an ever-cheerful fool with an omnipresent smile. But he has a darkness within him that would put that of the Bat himself to shame. There is a reason Richard tries every way he can to tame his rage, because if he let the darkness carry him, no one, not the Bat or the Justice League or anyone else, would be able to stop him. And trust me Talia when I say that no universe will ever be ready to face a fully pissed off Grayson consumed by darkness."

Talia let the older man's words register in her brain and she truly considered Deathstroke's words. To Slade's surprise she made no sound of contempt or anything like that and instead Talia simply said. "Duly noted."

Slade could not tell whether she was being mocking and sarcastic or not. Finally he mentally shrugged his shoulders and decided he didn't care.

It would be her loss if she did not understand Grayson's real value and not his.

Slade grunted and rolled onto his side. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

"I suggest you sleep with one eye open Wilson."

"Fuck you."


"Good morning folks!"

Slade suddenly opened wide his one gray eye and immediately let out a very patient sigh. He rose from the couch with a grunt and looked at his former student as if he wished he had Superman's super-heated vision to burn him alive.

"I see with regret that you have not lost the habit of being cheerful." he grumbled.

"We must live each day for what it is and enjoy the world!" exclaimed Dick with his usual cheerful smile, obviously still in his Nightwing outfit except for his mask.

"We are literally in an alternate world, Grayson." Talia impassively pointed out as she too stood up stretching and jiggling some joints.

The acrobat waved his hand dismissively. "That's not the point." he then looked at Slade and raised an eyebrow. "How the heck did you sleep with your armor on?" he asked impressed.

"Force of habit." he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, it was either that or I would have slept in my underwear." he pointed out with an arrogant, shit-eating grin.

Both Dick and Talia made disgusted noises, and the last Flying Grayson dramatically retched. "You're too old for that!"

"Fuck you."

"For once I agree with Grayson. If you had done that I would have slit your throat, yesterday's oath be damned."

"Fuck you too."

Dick's eerie laugh echoed loudly throughout the building, and Slade stared at him. "You've got to stop doing that, kiddo. Your laugh is creepier than the Joker's." he declared impassively.

"My laugh will die with me Slade!"

Deathstroke sighed and decided to change the subject. "What time is it?" he asked instead.

"Nine o'clock in the morning." replied Dick cheerfully, surprising both murderers.

"I can't remember the last time I got up this late." Talia thought aloud, frowning slightly.

"That makes two of us."

"Three." corrected Dick. "Apparently the interdimensional trip drained us more than we had thought." realized the former Robin.

The two assassins emitted murmurs of agreement. "We need to do a change of clothes first. We cannot go wandering around outside in the city in our uniforms. They would attract unwanted attention." said Slade leaning on the back of the sofa.

"Food wouldn't be bad either." advised Talia helpfully. "Do any of you have any money on you?" she asked and it was implied that she had none.

Slade shook his head but instead Dick rummaged through his utility belt, pulled out a wallet, and tossed it to the young woman, who caught it on the fly. "I think that should be enough."

Talia opened it, raised both eyebrows, and stared impassively at the hero. "You think? With this money I could fully feed at least two-fifths of the League of Assassins, maybe even half."

"Why the heck do you carry your wallet with you while you're Nightwing?"

"Give me some credit, Slade. It's not my real wallet of course. And to answer your question Batman made sure we carried a large sum of, eventually his, money with us for extreme situations. I'm pretty sure traveling in the multiverse is one of those situations."

"You Bats are more paranoid than I am and that says a lot, kiddo."

"This time, however, it has served us well." Talia intervened. "Money is no longer an issue. Why did you throw your wallet at me?" she asked the last part referring to the acrobat.

"Because you are going shopping."

"Why me and not you or Wilson? I am not your maid!" growled Talia staring at him fiercely.

Dick peacefully raised his hands in the air. "Because if Slade went he would create a lot of suspicion with his rather creepy and threatening armor. If I go most likely you two would kill each other a minute after I walked out the door. Even if you wear your League of Assassins uniform you still remain the most logical choice." he said in a calm and reasonable voice.

Talia reflected on his words and had to admit that she could not defy his logic. "Fine!" she growled annoyed. "But you two had better not get used to it!"

Slade snorted in amusement. "I'd actually advise you to go with her, Richard." he said surprising the other two.

"Why?" asked Dick curiously and also slightly wary of the mercenary's intentions.

To both of them it seemed as if Slade wanted to say something but then he had reconsidered at the last moment. "Because if we have to buy a lot of clothes and also some food Talia will need an extra pair of hands." he finally said.

Talia was not happy with his answer but reluctantly understood his logic. Dick nodded in understanding and raised an eyebrow. "What about you? I seriously doubt you would stay here and twiddle your thumbs."

"You're right, apprentice."

Dick sent the deadliest glare Talia had ever seen on his face at the mercenary and she thought briefly that she was lucky not to be on the receiving end of it and immediately afterwards she cast out that silly thought.

"I told you not to call me that anymore, Deathstroke. Just because I decided to voluntarily train with you that doesn't mean you can treat me as your apprentice." he practically spit out the last word and Talia mentally filed away the new information. "We both know we're past that episode."

Slade nodded seriously. "Once again you're right." then gave an innocent smile. "Force of habit." he ignored Dick's glare. "I have to go run some errands."

"Errands?" repeated Talia indifferently.

"Just because we're in another universe that doesn't mean I'm going to let you kill innocent people, Slade." Dick warned him with a serious look in his blue eyes.

Slade raised his hands in the air and rolled his eye. "Geez, have more faith in me, kiddo. Unlike your opinion I know how to spend time without killing."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Something that will come in handy." answered the mercenary enigmatically.

Nightwing wanted to know more but was interrupted by his wallet colliding with his face and automatically grabbed it on the fly before it fell to the ground.

"It's a useless waste of time trying to get more information out of Wilson. We'd better hurry up and buy everything we need so we can finish it sooner." Talia stated dryly.

Dick nodded at her before turning to Slade pointing a finger at his chest protected by his armor. "If I learn that you killed anyone the next time we face each other, once we return to our Earth, I will make you regret it."

"Sure kiddo." said Slade with a mocking grin.

"I'll call Adeline and tell her to blind you in the other eye too."

Talia looked shocked at Grayson and if she had not been an Al Ghul would have gaped.

She had never seen anyone so brave or so idiotic to mention Adeline Kane, Slade Wilson's ex-wife who shot him in the right eye rendering him blind on that side, in front of the aforementioned mercenary.

For a brief moment she wondered if Wilson had killed him.

She had to reluctantly admit that Grayson had courage. Much more than she believed.

Slade immediately lost his smile and his gray eye twinkled dangerously, inadvertently putting Talia herself on the defensive. "Get the fuck out that door before I impale you with my sword."

Dick rolled his eyes and smiled arrogantly at him. "You stopped scaring me a long time ago, old man."

Next Dick patted the mercenary on the shoulder, who half-closed his eye menacingly, and the acrobat continued to smile at him before nodding to Talia. "Come on Talia. Let's go do some shopping."

Talia nodded and the two exited the building. As soon as Slade heard the doors slam he took a long, deep sigh to calm his nerves.

"That devil of a kiddo. Sooner or later he'll get himself killed by someone with his big mouth." he murmured with a hint of genuine affection toward the first Robin.

Grayson was literally the only person other than Wintergreen that Slade knew who had the balls to mention his ex-wife in front of him.

His cheekiness and impertinence was certainly one of Richard's qualities that endeared Slade to the boy and which the super-soldier greatly admired, even if on occasions like these he felt the urge to strangle him.

With a half-loving half-exasperated sigh Deathstroke decided to get to work.

He had a task to accomplish.