Chapter 8: Occupy Gotham
After all of the militia's checkpoints were done for, the three heroes all met up back in Chinatown. "Okay. That's all the checkpoints. Now, what?", Nightwing asked. "If I know, Slade, he's got more than just checkpoints for us to deal with.", Arrow said. "Let me get in touch with Alfred and see if he can pick up any more militia activity.", Batman said as he got his gauntlet ready to talk to his butler. "Alfred, what other militia activity is there around the city? Me, Dick, and Ollie have taken care of all the checkpoints.", Batman asked. "Give me a moment, sir. Oh, that's odd.", Alfred said. "What is?", Batman asked. "Well, it seems like Gotham's skies have been locked down by what appear to be watchtowers set up by the militia. The one I am looking at is in the Cauldron. It is being heavily guarded by several soldiers each with firearms. If you want the city's skies to be available again, it's best you take out all the towers there are.", Alfred said. "Thanks for the info, Alfred.", Batman said as he got off the link. "So, it's off to the Cauldron, huh?", Nightwing asked. "Yes. Time to use stealth rather than our fists.", Batman said. They all made their way to the watchtower where 16 soldiers were patrolling the area while there were sentry guns placed on the outside of the building. One of the soldiers was controlling a drone which would shock any intruders. "I've been to war zones nicer than this city.", one guy said. "You can say that again.", another trooper said. "I guess we should take out that drone controller.", Nightwing said. "Yeah, but how? If we come within range of that guy, we'll get shocked.", Arrow said. "Yes, but we won't. Not as long as I have my disruptor.", Batman said as he got out the disruptor from his belt. He pointed it at the drone and disabled it. "We have 30 seconds to take him out before he gets it back online. Let's move.", Batman said as they grappled onto the top of the building to avoid the sentry guns. "The drone's offline. Let me get it back on.", the drone controller said. Before he could do anything, Batman snuck up behind him and silently knocked him out. This caused the drone to crash which caught the attention of the other guys. "Why did the drone crash? We better check on the controller.", one soldier said. Three of the remaining fifteen went to investigate and saw their unconscious comrade. "Man down!", he said. They went over to their friend who was lying unconscious. "Come on, wake up! Damn it! He's out cold!", he said. Green Arrow used the opportunity to use his sleeping gas arrow on those guys. He fired it from his bow which landed in front of the three soldiers. "What the hell is this?", one guy asked. "It's that Green Arrow guy the boss warned us about! He's here!", another guy said. Knockout gas began to emit from the arrow which quickly knocked out those guys. "We lost touch with more men. Spread out and check for casualties!', one guy said. The three vigilantes all used their own various takedown techniques on these supposedly highly trained soldiers who proved to be no better than any common thug they normally fight on a daily basis. It was tricky to not alert any as more soldiers were being taken down, but all of them were down for the count. "I think we did pretty good work on those 16 losers.", Nightwing said. "Now, how do we disable this watchtower and get Gotham skies available again?", Arrow asked. Batman looked and saw a device of some kind against the wall that had wires coming out from it. These wires were connected to the sentry turrets that were planted on the sides of the building. "I think by destroying that thing.", Batman said as he moved towards what he was talking about. Batman ripped open the control panel and sprayed some of his explosive gel inside. "Stand back.", he instructed his friends. They all stood back as Batman detonated the gel which destroyed the device and the turrets. Gotham skies were back online for this spot. Deathstroke was communicating via intercom after the watchtower was destroyed. "I must say I'm very disappointed in those men. I thought I trained them better than that.", Slade said. "I think they did learn a lot from you. How to be a nothing more than scum.", Arrow said angrily. "As I mentioned earlier, I am sort of glad you showed your face here tonight, Queen. Although, I would've preferred a more private showdown with just you as I have more of a history with you than I do the Bat and his pupil.", Slade said. "I wouldn't care if it's just me and you or if I have friends to help me. One way or another, Slade, you're going down tonight!", Oliver threatened. "Classic Oliver. Always so hot-headed and impulsive. Willing to go to great lengths and go great distances to hunt down the likes of me. You should be proud of yourself for not making a stupid move such as bringing Felicity along with you. Otherwise, I would have my men target her too.", Slade threatened. "Talk about my wife like that again, and I'll take out your other eye!", Oliver yelled angrily. "As I was saying before, let's see if the men at my other watchtowers will do better than these did. The night is young, Batman. But when it ends, I'll be delivering your cowl on a platter to Sofia. Along with Ollie's and Nightwing's. Maybe she'll give me a bonus for killing all three of you. I'm anxious to see how this all ends.", Deathstroke said as he got off the channel. Nightwing looked over and saw the anger in Arrow's eyes. "You're not the only person who hates him as much as I do. He said and threatened terrible things to my team, especially Starfire who is someone very dear to me.", he said. "I know I shouldn't let him get to me, but I couldn't help it. He got me worked up. I've been fighting him for so long, I just want it to end.", Arrow said. "Let's just hope we'll see the last of him tonight.", Dick said. "We'll talk about our personal vendettas against him later. I'll see if Alfred can get locations on the other watchtowers. We'll take those out and see what comes next.", Batman said. They all agreed that was best and continued with their mission.