Chapter 13: Duel At The Docks
The Batmobile and Green Arrow were chasing Deathstroke through the streets of Gotham with Deathstroke surprisingly staying ahead of the very fast car. The chase kept going until they got to Dixon Docks (Where that badass fight took place in the Arkham Origins trailer) and Deathstroke stopped in his tracks. "Get out of the car, boys. It's time we finish this face to face.", he said. Batman and Nightwing got out of the car and Green Arrow joined them as they all were about to have their showdown with someone who has given each of them Hell for a long time. "I must say, it truly is an honor to fight three great warriors such as yourselves all at once. It will be even more of an honor when I kill you.", he said. "We'll take him together. There's no way he can defeat all of us.", Green Arrow said. "I'll start first.", Nightwing said as he got out his escrima sticks and began to charge. "Nightwing, wait!", Batman warned. Nightwing leaped into the air as he was lunging at the mercenary. However, this barely presented a threat to the merc as Deathstroke grabbed Bludhaven's protector by the throat before he could even touch him and threw him at the side of a shipping container. Nightwing was still conscious but was taking some time to recover from that blow as that really hurt his back. "Who's next?", Slade asked mockingly. "That would be me.", Arrow said as he stepped forward. "My old friend. I must say, you couldn't be any more of a disappointment. I truly considered you a friend and a possible successor to me.", Slade said. "There's no way I would want to succeed in what you do. You're a cold-blooded killer.", Arrow said. "But you could be. You could be so much more. I saw you as a worthy protégé. I hoped the same thing for Nightwing at one point as I made the same offer to him, but he declined. But you...you wouldn't know how to fight like you do now if it wasn't for me. I should've left you for dead on that island all those years ago.", Slade said. "Enough talking, old man!", Arrow said as he charged at Slade. Slade got out his sword and the two of them began to have a clash between bow and sword. Surprisingly enough the bow acted as how a sword would was able to block Slade's attacks. Batman went over to Nightwing to help him up while Arrow and Slade were having it out. Hit after hit the bow and sword collided in a heated fight. They engaged in a weapons lock as both of them got up in each other's faces and gave angry stares while struggling to get the upper hand. Slade used this opportunity to head-butt Oliver which caught him off-guard. Deathstroke had the advantage as he began to beat up Arrow and kick him to the side. Arrow was in pain and on the ground as Slade turned his attention to the ma that drew him to this city. "That was fun, Ollie, but I want the Bat now.", Slade said as he stared menacingly at Batman. "Then, come at me.", Batman said. Deathstroke charged at Batman with his sword and began to swing violently at the Dark Knight, but Batman was able to counter each attack with his gauntlet spikes. No matter how many times he tried to get his sword into Batman, Batman's gauntlet kept blocking. The sword got caught in both sets of spikes and Batman sliced the sword into pieces with the spikes. This surprised the merc and Batman took advantage of that by delivering a few punches, but Slade bounced right and hopped onto a shipping container. Batman jumped on top of the container where they continued to fight. Slade got out his staff which he used to attack, but Batman was doing the same thing by blocking the staff with his gauntlets. Nightwing and Arrow had gotten back on their feet and were eager to help Batman with his fight. Batman was literally swiped off his feet with the staff and landed on his back. "Age has slowed you down, Bat. You're not as fast as you were 10 years ago. Me on the other hand, I'm 55 and I'm still as fast as ever.", he said. He was about to jam the staff in his face before Arrow shot an Arrow to knock the staff out of his hands. Nightwing used his acrobatic skills to jump into the air right above Deathstroke. He used his escrima sticks to perform an electrical blast on the assassin that knocked him off the container and back on the docks. All three heroes began to battle Slade at once and surprisingly Slade was getting the upper hand. He was in a fist fight with all of them, but he was proving to be too much for all three of them together. It didn't take long for all three heroes to be worn down. Slade was right as far as age slowing down Batman. If he was still in his 20s, it would take longer to be slowed down. Deathstroke delivered one final blow to all three of them that knocked them on their asses. Batman and his allies were weary from the fight and were currently being rounded up by Deathstroke who dragged them back to back in a circle. "Look at you three. You thought you could beat me? Pathetic! I'm the greatest soldier and assassin ever!", he boasted. "I made you an offer to become my apprentice when you were with the Titans, Nightwing. But you refused and now look where you are. We were good friends once, Arrow. Just know you death will hurt me way less than it'll hurt you. And you, Batman; you put up way more of a fight the last time we met. I told you everyone who beat me, I get them the next time. You as usual fought well, but I am stronger, faster, and smarter. So this ends the only way it can.", he said to every one of them. He got out his second sword and placed it in front of all three of their heads. "It'll take one clean stroke to decapitate all of you. Know that you three died with honor. Which is more than can be said for most.", Slade said as he was getting ready to deliver the killing blow. They were all weary from getting their asses kicked and didn't have the strength to do anything, but stand there and wait for the sword. However, Batman had one last ace up his sleeve. Being someone who's gimmick is bats, it's only fitting that Batman mapped the locations of where each sizable swarm of bats in the city were. Even before Batman, Gotham was well-known for its sizable bat population, so it wasn't too difficult to find each bat cave in the city. Luckily, there was one right where they were at the docks and Batman knew how to draw them out. Batman pressed a button on his gauntlet which emitted ultrasonic sounds that only animals like bats could hear. The bats below them heard this noise and went crazy. Just before Deathstroke was about to cut their heads off, he heard the bats screeching and was distracted. "What's that sound?", he said to himself. A huge swarm of bats began to fly onto the scene and attacked the contract killer. "Get the hell off of me!", Slade said as he was swinging his sword at the bats. Batman gathered what strength he had left and used this chance to attack Slade. Slade was so distracted by all the swarming bats, he wasn't aware of the giant bat coming towards him until last minute. Batman stunned Slade with his cape and performed an Arkham-style beatdown on him. After a long beatdown, Batman delivered the finishing blow which took his mask right off. Slade landed on the ground and looked up as he saw the bats still circling above him. As he attempted to get up, Batman kicked him back down and placed his foot on his chest. "You've lost, Slade. Again.", Batman said. "I'm a man of honor, Batman. I know when I'm beaten.", Deathstroke said. "Good. Now, you're the one who will die with honor.", Arrow said as was about to fire an Arrow right through Slade's brain. "Queen , what the hell are you doing?", Batman asked shocked by what he was seeing. "I'm sorry, but you can never understand all the Hell this monster has put me and the ones I love through. He has to die.", Arrow said. "I honestly agree.", Nightwing said. "How can you say that?", Batman asked. "Because he's put my old team through all kinds of Hell too. I'm sorry, Batman. I do think he should be done in.", Nightwing said. "Go ahead, kid. Finish me off.", Slade egged Arrow on. Before he was about to let go of the arrow, Batman spoke up. "Oliver, listen to me. You have a no killing rule just like I do. You're right, I can never understand everything he's done to you and your family. The same goes for you, Nightwing. I only ever faced him just one other time and that's it. I don't have much of a history with him as you two do. But can't you see that this is what he wants? He wants you to become a killer so he wins in the end. I dealt with the same thing with Joker for years. He tried to push me to kill him so many times and I was honestly considering it often. But you should know as well as I do, that's not what heroes do. They hand men like him over to the authorities and let them be the judge. Not us. Just put the bow down and don't let him win in the end.", Batman persuaded. Oliver agreed and put the bow down. "You're weak, kid. You've always been weak. If you were a real man, you end me right now.", Slade taunted. Batman silenced Slade by knocking him out with a single punch. "Sorry about that. I just thought about our past too much.", Oliver said. "Me too. Back when I was with the Titans, he forced me to turn against my team if I didn't join him and threatened to kill them. Along with so many other times he tried to kill us. In a moment of weakness, I lost sight of what you taught me. I'm sorry too.", Nightwing said. "It's okay. The important thing is that we stopped him and his army together without resorting to killing. Like we always do.", Batman said as he put his hands on the shoulders of both his allies. Police cars began to come on the scene just as the heroes were continuing a nice moment together.