"In a couple of hours I have to leave. The Light has assigned me a mission."
Dick's head snapped in his father's direction, staring at him in surprise. "What?"
"I'll have to go pick up a helicopter that the Light kindly provided and act as an intermediary to retrieve the Kobra-Venom in Santa Prisca from the Cult of Kobra." Slade explained.
The acrobat blinked slowly. He had so many questions on his mind but the one he asked was: "What the hell is Kobra-Venom now?"
"Kobra-Venom is a combination of the Venom used by Bane and Cadmus' Project Blockbuster formula. The resulting mix is three times as strong as Bane's Venom and most importantly permanent."
Dick absorbed all the information and finally he ran a hand over his face. "This is definitely not good. Already facing an enemy using Venom or Project Blockbuster is pretty bad, let alone a mix of the two substances. Something very dangerous comes out of it." he groaned. Suddenly he frowned and removed his hands from his face, staring directly at his father. "One moment: Santa Prisca is run by Bane and his men. Knowing him, I doubt he would agree."
"Indeed you are right." the more experienced mercenary grunted. "The Cult of Kobra set foot on Santa Prisca with the goal of taking control of the area and a war was arose between them and Bane. In the end, the Cult of Kobra was able to take over and they were able to make the Kobra-Venom."
The Talon squinted his eyes. "Are you saying that Bane is in danger?"
"Probably so." the super soldier nodded. "But there's nothing you can do right now, so keep your protective instincts at bay." he warned him, receiving a snort in response. "I'll have to go to Santa Prisca, get as many vials containing Kobra-Venom as I can and take them to the Light."
Dick stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "Are you so old that I have to remind you that our goal is to counter the Light and not help them?" he asked sarcastically.
"Brat." Slade punched his son's shoulder, snorting when he heard him chuckle. "I already have a plan to make sure the Kobra-Venom vials are destroyed and only one remains intact."
"Only one? Why?"
"The first reason is that I don't want them to start suspecting me. The second is that I have a reputation to maintain. Finally, one vial will perhaps be enough to allow them to decode the formula but it will still take time to do so and to replicate them."
"Time we have." murmured Dick, appreciating Slade's plan.
"That's right. Now I must go and get ready. Don't you dare follow me." ordered Slade, narrowing his gaze on his son. "I mean it. If Bane is in danger you can undertake a rescue mission but only after I finish my mission. Any suspicion must be avoided."
"Don't worry, I won't follow you." Dick reassured him. "Also because I have to go to Metropolis for the weekly visit for Conner."
Slade shook his head with a smirk. "I'm not surprised that you've become friends with a Superman clone too." a mischievous twinkle appeared in Slade's gray eye and Dick already knew that whatever he was going to say to him he would not like it. "Too bad you couldn't find a Wonder Woman clone though, huh?"
Dick opened his jaw wide in disbelief. He closed it and cast a flat look at his father. "Go get ready if you don't want to eat your own guts."
Slade emitted an amused chuckle and obeyed, not wanting to test his son because he knew Dick was seriously capable of making his threat come true.
The younger mercenary shook his head and mentally insulted his father for regularly using his crush on Wonder Woman against him and taunting him.
The 17-year-old plunged into his thoughts.
It had been about two weeks since he had infiltrated Cadmus, created chaos there and made it now in the hands of Dubbilex and genomorphs instead of the Light.
Light was really pissed off that someone had killed one Superman clone, freed the other, killed Desmond and caused Cadmus to no longer be in their hands. They are pissed mostly because they don't know who sabotaged them and it was really amusing to both Slade and Dick.
On the other hand, however, Superboy -who has assumed the civilian identity as Conner Kent- has been fully accepted in the Kent household: both by Lois and Jonathan and Martha Kent but also by Clark himself, the latter put under pressure by his girlfriend and his parents.
Conner told him how things with Clark have warmed up and how Superman has genuinely accepted him to the point of helping him control his powers and voluntarily spending time with him. He also learned how Superman had to alert the Justice League to the existence of his clone, Project Cadmus and everything about it, and that led the JL to investigate.
Although Conner's cover story lacked details -such as who killed Match, Desmond, the head of security, etc.- it held up overall and since the only testimony was Superboy himself and Dubbilex, the Justice League had no choice but to believe it.
Of course, Renegade's name was never mentioned to anyone and both Superboy and Dubbilex kept their promises and would continue like this.
There was some doubt and distrust about the clone, especially on Batman's part to the point that the Dark Knight would want Martian Manhunter to verify Superboy's story by entering his mind. Conner, Superman and even other members of the Justice League objected and after a long discussion this did not happen, much to the relief of Dick and Slade.
Dick could only imagine what would happen if Martian Manhunter entered Superboy's head and discovered the truth of what happened inside Cadmus and also the friendship between the clone and the mercenary.
The Talon was diverted from his thoughts when he heard silent footsteps approaching and he sent a smirk to his father, fully clothed in his Deathstroke armor. "You know very well that you are no longer able to sneak up on me, Slade."
"I know but it's always good to test you." he replied with a casual shrug.
"Do you want to tell me your plan of how to get rid of all but one of the vials containing Kobra-Venom without the Light suspecting you?"
"Once the mission is over."
"Fine. Keep your secrets, Slade." Dick snorted dramatically. "...It doesn't involve Justice League intervention, does it?"
"No. Don't worry, you'll get another chance to finally meet Wonder Woman."
Despite the mask covering Slade's entire face, Dick knew the man had a shit-eating grin on his face. The Talon gave him a hard look. "Are you ever going to stop?"
"Of course not." Deathstroke declared in a clearly smug voice.
Dick's glare increased a notch. "Go get the fucking helicopter before I blow it up with you on board."
The more experienced mercenary stiffened and stared at his son with an indecipherable gaze hidden by his mask for a few seconds before he burst into a soft, ironic giggle.
"What's so funny?" the acrobat asked, genuinely confused.
"Nothing." the former military man shook his head and patted his son on the head. He was not surprised when Dick gave him a quick hug and he returned it for a few seconds. "I'm going to go now. Don't blow up Metropolis." he half-seriously half-jokingly declared.
"I'll do my best." Dick joked and he watched as the figure of his father left the house.
Although Deathstroke had accepted hundreds of contracts without Renegade throughout his long mercenary career Dick always felt anxious when Slade left without Renegade by his side, never mind that his father was the best assassin in the world.
Even though this was not a contract but rather a mission as an intermediary between the Cult of Kobra and the Light, Dick was still anxious.
Don't get killed, Dad.
Deathstroke The Terminator got out of the helicopter that had just landed and walked forward with a firm step, stopping in front of Kobra and Shimmer. He recognized them from the descriptions Light gave him.
Kobra was about the same height as Slade, his eyes were red with rings around them, his skin was pale, and he wore a cloak and red cowl, the latter shaped like a snake. His height and muscular build would have made him intimidating if Slade were not the best assassin in the world.
Next to Kobra was Shimmer, a woman with short red hair -although the right half of her head is bald adorned with a tattoo-, green eyes and blue lipstick. Surrounding them were other men belonging to the Cult of Kobra.
Behind Kobra was a giant, monstrous creature with greenish-brown skin, red hair and green eyes. He loomed a minimum of six inches over both Slade and Kobra and was monstrously muscular. Slade was sure that he had assumed the Kobra-Venom that gave him that appearance.
From the way Vandal Savage had spoken about Kobra, Slade understood that he had a very haughty and proud personality to the point that he considered himself a living God and behaved as such.
Immediately from the description Slade hated Kobra and seriously considered killing him just to disprove his pathetic idea that he was a living God and see his reaction when he realized he was going to die.
Alas, Slade could not kill him personally because Kobra was a valuable ally of the Light and he would have to leave the honor to Renegade.
"Kobra."
"Deathstroke." spoke Kobra, his voice cold and detached. "Your cargo is ready." he said, nodding to Shimmer.
Shimmer stepped forward and opened the briefcase, revealing a series of vials containing Kobra-Venom. Deathstroke took one and examined it for a few seconds before pointing his gaze at the monstrous creature behind Kobra. "I assume that's the result of the Kobra-Venom."
"That's right. You can see that it is a real success." Kobra smirked as he extended an arm toward the monster behind him. "Our friends will not be disappointed."
The mercenary rolled his eyes with a derisive mental snort, grateful once again that his mask hid his eye. "Definitely. This will be very useful in getting rid of the heroes."
As Deathstroke watched Kobra's men carry some boxes onto the helicopter, he turned directly to him. "I know you have taken control of the island. What have you done with the original owner?" he asked, letting a hint of curiosity show in his tone of voice so as not to make the cult leader suspicious.
"Bane is still alive. Mammoth likes to play with him." stated Kobra in a cold, emotionless voice, pointing to the monster behind him.
Mammoth smirked and clenched his fists menacingly, emphasizing the leader's words.
Deathstroke nodded in a movement that transpired casualness and merely observed Kobra's men on the move, dropping the subject.
Slade was not surprised that Bane was unable to take down Mammoth. After all, Kobra-Venom is literally three times stronger than the Venom used by Bane and although the big man was very smart and cunning, more than people give him credit for, he still could do nothing against his opponent.
They probably kept Bane locked up in a cell and occasionally got him into some sort of ring where he was then beaten savagely by Mammoth.
Even an assassin of Slade's caliber recognized that Mammoth could break him like a twig with just his brute force. At least Slade had the healing factor but the same could not be said for Bane.
The mercenary was not one to give compliments at all but he had always had a sort of respect for Bane and he was one of the few super-villains who had his respect. Bane might have looked like the stereotypical all muscle and no brains but that was far from the reality.
And Slade knew that his son had taken a liking to Bane and Bane had also taken a liking to Renegade.
Of course.
Once all the boxes full of Kobra-Venom were loaded onto the helicopter Deathstroke put the vial back in its place and abruptly took the briefcase out of Shimmer's hands, ignoring her glare. The assassin nodded to Kobra, who returned it, and headed toward the transport vehicle.
Deathstroke guided the helicopter for a little over fifteen minutes -enough time to get away from Santa Prisca- and then put it on autopilot. He glanced out the window and nodded to himself when he noticed the land hundreds and hundreds of meters below him. He opened the briefcase resting on the co-pilot's seat, took out a vial of Kobra-Venom and hid it in his armor.
From his armor the mercenary pulled out a small switch and without any hesitation pressed the red button.
The helicopter exploded.
"What the hell do you mean the helicopter exploded?"
The world's deadliest mercenary remained impassive at Vandal Savage's outburst. "It means someone sabotaged our plan."
"Do you have any idea who that might be?" asked Black Manta.
The super soldier's gaze landed on the figure of Aquaman's archenemy obscured by the blinding white light and he shook his head. "No suspicions. I haven't seen any heroes, so the Justice League is out of the options. But when I find out who did it I will make them pay with their lives." he growled.
"Don't tell me the whole shipment of Kobra-Venom was lost!" Klarion whimpered annoyed.
The former soldier pulled out a vial from his armor and showed it to the screens. "This is the only one I was able to save."
Technically this was not a lie since all the other vials exploded along with the helicopter and not a trace of them remained.
A general chorus of annoyed groans resounded. "So the mission was a failure." Lex Luthor huffed bitterly. "You are not even capable of completing such an easy mission."
The mercenary stiffened and his head snapped toward the screen showing the billionaire's figure. "If you had been in my place right now you would be nothing but ashes along with that helicopter. Only my superhuman abilities allowed me to survive that fucking explosion and I was quick enough to grab the first parachute I saw and throw myself from the burning helicopter that was falling faster than your pathetic brain is capable of reasoning." Lex babbled indignantly and the assassin continued. "Plus I managed to retrieve a vial of Kobra-Venom after a quarter of an hour of searching when you wouldn't have retrieved anything even in an hour, so the next time you insinuate something like that again I will end your useless life." he threatened him in a low and dangerous voice.
"That's enough." intervened Vandal Savage before Superman's nemesis could think of a retort. "While things certainly didn't go as we hoped, it must be said that it wasn't a complete failure."
"How can you say that when we only have one vial of Kobra-Venom compared to the hundreds we bought from Kobra?" asked Queen Bee.
"Because fortunately Deathstroke managed to save one and from that we would be able to decode his formula and produce as much Kobra-Venom ourselves as we would like." replied the leader easily. "Of course, this will take longer than we expected and it would have been much faster if the vials had not been destroyed but all in all it could have been worse."
"We also need to figure out who sabotaged Deathstroke." Psimon interjected helpfully. "If it wasn't the heroes, and I highly doubt it was Kobra and his men, then who did?"
"Not to mention what happened in Cadmus." Ocean-Master recalled. "It can't just be a coincidence."
"This is something we need to find out but for now we are not paranoid. There is also the unfortunate possibility that there was a malfunction in the helicopter engine that led to its explosion, as remote as that may be. We have no reason to believe that anyone is actively sabotaging us: after all, no one besides us is aware of the Light's existence."
Slade gave a smirk hidden by his mask.
Things are going swimmingly: they still do not know that the heroes are aware of the Light, let alone through Renegade, and even more importantly they do not suspect me. Why would they ever suspect the murderer with the largest number of victims to his credit in the world, known for being ruthless and cruel? Dick's idea of infiltrating the Light is proceeding better than I could have thought.
"Deathstroke." the mercenary roused himself from his thoughts and stared at the white figure of Vandal Savage. "Since your mission did not go according to plan, although you are not directly to blame, I am forced to pay you $150,000 rather than the $300,000 we agreed upon."
Money was certainly the last thing Slade could have thought of at that moment. He crossed his arms, feigning irritation, and merely grunted displeased.
He had to pretend to be irritated by it otherwise it might create unnecessary suspicion if the notorious Deathstroke accepted it so easily.
The encounter with the Light lasted another few minutes and eventually the super soldier emerged from the shelter. As he was on his way to return home, he thought with a smirk about how the Light would react once they found out that the Cult of Kobra had been exterminated once and for all.
Renegade will not go easy on them: not after they used Bane as a punching bag for several days. I would never want to be in their shoes, especially Kobra's.