Chapter 12: Tank Battle
Batman was finishing detonating a controlled explosion on the last bomb after having dealt with another drone force that tried to stop him. The last bomb exploded and the city was bomb free once more. "Is that the last of them?", Oliver asked Batman on his comm link. "That's it.", Batman answered. "I think we've dealt with these militia punks enough. Let's find Slade and end this!", Nightwing said. Deathstroke then patched in to join in on the conversation and began to speak. "I couldn't agree more, boy. You three have now destroyed all of my bombs. Not only that, but all of my militia have either left or been arrested.", he said. "This occupation's over, Slade. You're done.", Batman said Deathstroke slightly chuckled upon hearing that and responded. "You think I care about the militia? About Gotham? I'm an assassin, Batman, and I came here to do one thing which is kill you and your allies.", Slade said. "After I hand you over, I'm coming after Sofia.", Batman said. "There's no need for that. I took care of her myself.", Slade said in a sinister tone. "What do you mean by that?", Batman asked. "She was about to fire me over fear of I was destroying too much of this shithole of a city and because of the cops connecting me and my men to her. So, I killed her.", he said. "I warned her about how unpredictable you were. She should've have fired you sooner when she had the chance.", Batman said. "Yes, she also told me about how you paid her a visit to talk her out of all this. If anything, you should be thanking me. That's one less criminal off your hands.", he said. "I don't want criminals dead. I want them brought to justice, which is what's going to happen to you.", Batman threatened. "I don't think so. I took my payment from her Swiss bank accounts after I killed her which makes me certified to finish this!", he said. "Then finish it! Grand Avenue, Slade. We'll be waiting.", Batman said as he got off talking with his enemy. "This is it, guys. Are you ready?", Batman asked his allies. "Trust me, Bruce. I've been ready to take him down for a long time.", Oliver said. "What he said.", Nightwing agreed. The Batmobile roared its way to Grand Avenue where Batman told Deathstroke to meet him. Green Arrow was on the rooftop of the Black Canary Club while waiting for Slade to show up. "Alfred, raise the bridges. He's not getting off this island.", Batman said to Alfred on the comms link. "Yes, sir. But please be cautious. Scans indicate that Deathstroke has a tank of his own. In fact, it's the same kind that held the Cloudburst device from Halloween. It has a 360-degree field of vision. He'll be impossible to catch unaware.", Alfred said. Just then, Deathstroke's huge tank appeared and was facing the Batmobile with several other smaller tanks behind him "Holy shit. That's a big tank.", Nightwing said. "Well, here we are. I must say from inside this tank, your car doesn't seem so big and menacing. That's my job now.", Deathstroke said from inside his weapon. "You're the one who should be scared.", Batman said with intimidation. "Do you know what every guy who's fought with me and walked away has in common? I got them next time. I've faced the likes of all three of you before, and you've all been lucky enough to walk away. Not this time. Tonight's the night all of you die! I see you up there Oliver. If you had your own special car-tank, you'd join Batman and face me like he is. But fighting from the shadows suits you.", he said. Arrow remained quiet as he got his arrows ready. Slade began to fire at the Batmobile, but the car quickly dodged the missiles and began to drive away. Green Arrow hopped out of sight too in order to get the element of surprise. "Find them! Tear this island to shreds!", he ordered the other unmanned tanks. They all spread out to search for the heroes who were waiting for the right moment to strike. Arrow was keeping watch of one of the tanks until he got its weak spot in view. Once it was, he fired an arrow straight at it which made it blow up almost immediately. "What was that? Find out where that came from.", Deathstroke told the tanks upon hearing that explosion. Arrow moved to somewhere else to avoid detection. The Batmobile was in the same situation as it was avoiding being spotted in order to get a good, clean shot at one of the smaller tanks. Unknown to the tank, Batman and Nightwing were right behind it, locking onto its weak spot. Batman fired as soon as he was locked on which made the tank explode. Damn it! That's another one offline. They're taking these things down one at a time. Check every alleyway and rooftop! They're not getting away!", Deathstroke commanded the tanks. After a long game of cat and mouse, all the smaller tanks were destroyed leaving just Slade's. The heroes have had enough hiding and wanted to finish this head on. "I'm right here, Slade. Come at me!", Batman said. Deathstroke's tank appeared and had the Batmobile in his sights. "I have you now! No escape!", he said as he began to fire. Deathstroke's tank was firing everything he had at the car in front of him. Batman tried to dodge as much as he could, but even he couldn't avoid every single hit. Batman as well was firing everything he had at Slade's tank, but it was taking a long time to do a significant amount of damage on it. Green Arrow aided the Batmobile by firing his custom-made explosive arrows at Slade's tank which greatly assisted in causing damage to it. This caught the attention of Slade who begun to fire at Arrow too. "I see you, Queen. You're not getting away!", Slade yelled as he fired at his old friend who quickly moved out of the way of each attack. Despite the tank's 360-degree field of vision, it could only focus on one target at a time which made the fight more difficult on Slade's end. It seemed like an endless of battle of Deathstroke switching between firing at the Batmobile and firing at Arrow up above before the tank was taking lots of damage. The Batmobile had suffered some damage too, but not as much. Eventually, Deathstroke's tank was inoperable due to the amount of damage it had suffered because of the Batmobile's weapons and Green Arrows exploding arrows. The tank had steam and electricity all over it and looked completely broke. The top hatch opened up and out came Deathstroke who jumped into the air with his samurai sword in his hand. He landed right in front of the Batmobile and said, "I think I've had enough of all this tank nonsense. Let's have a proper fight to end this. Come on!". Deathstroke then began to run as fast as he could which was much more fast than any ordinary person could run. The Batmobile began to chase after the assassin which surprisingly was not as fast as the enhanced mercenary. Green Arrow began to follow the car and his nemesis as he was determined to end this just as much as Slade.