Batman turned around and grunted painfully as a violent fist connected with his face. His back slammed hard into the roof of a building and he gritted his teeth as the full weight of Deathstroke The Terminator piled on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
The world's deadliest mercenary brought his half-black and half-orange mask closer to the Caped Crusader's cowl, a low, menacing growl that reverberated through the polluted air of Gotham.
"I'll tell you this once, Batman. Where is Renegade?"
In response, the vigilante headbutted the assassin and his grip on him loosened enough for the hero to push the other man away with all his strength. He stood up and spat blood onto the ground without ever taking his eyes off the meta-human. "Deathstroke. Get out of my city." he growled.
The assassin cracked his neck. "Not before you tell me where Renegade is."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well." the super soldier nodded, a cold smirk behind his mask. "Harder way, then."
Deathstroke launched himself at the vigilante who dodged his assault but the assassin whirled around with a roundhouse kick which however was blocked in mid-air by Batman who hit the other leg of the assassin with a strong kick. The latter fell to the ground with a grunt but immediately got up with a backfilp, blocking the punch aimed at his face with one hand and attempting to hit the hero's stomach with the other hand. The Caped Crusader deflected the punch with his other arm and jumped over the kick of Renegade's former mentor, attempting to kick him in the face while he was still in mid-air.
The super soldier blocked the kick and violently flipped Batman to the ground who grunted as his back collided with the hard surface of the roof.
Over the next few minutes the two enemies continued to fight, both landing several hits on each other. The only vaguely audible sounds were their slightly rapid breathing and the occasional grunt.
For a moment it seemed as if Batman had the advantage, given his hand-to-hand combat skills superior to those of the mercenary, but the situation was immediately reversed when Deathstroke, gifted with superhuman physical abilities and driven by the purest ferocious rage and dad overprotective mode to find out where the hell his son was, managed to stab the vigilante just above the left knee, breaking through the Kevlar layer of the armor. Batman grunted in pain and the assassin took advantage of those few hundredths of a second to hit the hero with a ferocious punch, breaking his nose and part of his upper lip, the sound of broken cartilage that spread through the restless silence of Gotham.
The Caped Crusader fell abruptly to the ground and let out a strangled noise as Deathstroke landed his full weight on his chest with a ferocious elbow, breaking a few ribs and making him cough up blood. The mercenary quickly unsheathed one of his swords and aimed it at his neck, cutting through the Kevlar protecting him. A small trickle of blood formed on the downed vigilante's neck, slowly flowing downwards.
"Tell me where Renegade is, Bat."
Batman remained silent, fearlessly returning the other man's masked gaze. He grunted as the cold blade was pushed slightly deeper into his neck, bathing the assassin's sword in his blood.
"I don't have all the time in the world." Deathstroke growled ferociously, his expert grip on his sword never wavering. "I know you know where my son is. So either you tell me where he is right now or I'll deliver to your butler your severed head served on a silver platter."
The Dark Knight smirked sinisterly, showing off his bloody teeth. "Renegade would never forgive you if you killed a hero and you know it too, Deathstroke."
The world's most dangerous mercenary stared at the vigilante for a few more seconds of tense silence before violently striking his head with the hilt of his sword, causing his head to snap harshly to the side and spit out more blood. With his other hand the assassin grabbed Batman's head and brutally crashed it into the hard surface of the roof three times, releasing his grip when he felt the hero's body go limp.
"Enjoy a violent concussion, you son of a bitch." Deathstroke spat venomously at the unconscious figure as he placed his sword back on his back, crossing it in an X with the other.
Slade knew that Wayne was responsible for his son's disappearance, otherwise the vigilante would have denied it from the start. Knowing this he broke Batman's left leg, the sound of breaking bones like classical music to his ears.
"Happy healing time, asshole."
It was highly likely that Batman had been aided by the Justice League since Slade hardly saw Dick defeated solely by the Gotham vigilante.
With a frustrated sigh the super soldier left the downed hero on the roof as he walked away, heading towards the abandoned and unused Gotham cabin that he knew was actually a zeta tube. Luckily Dick had taught him a long time ago how to hack zeta tubes to get to any destination you wanted, although Slade wasn't as fast and skilled at hacking as his son was but still, Dick was literally the best hacker in the world , so it wasn't even a fair competition.
The thought of his son gave him a pang of pain in his chest that he ignored.
Next destination: Watchtower.
Deathstroke The Terminator was on the march to declare war on the entire Justice League and nothing and no one would be able to stop his war path.
Wonder Woman drummed her fingers on the table as she listened to Aquaman, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl come up with different plans in an attempt to come up with the right one to undo the hold the federal government has on them and free Renegade.
Up until that point, however, it was still a failure.
Diana was becoming more and more agitated and nervous with each passing minute because it meant that Renegade was still in the most dangerous prison in the world practically defenseless against the entire prison suffering things that she didn't even want to imagine.
At that moment her mind wandered, absentmindedly paying attention to the words of her teammates.
This was the moment she for the first time could analyze and reorganize her thoughts and feelings since the day before, when all the Renegade and Waller hell had happened and she practically got into a fight with most of the team, once she returned to her house she fainted in her bed.
Yesterday had been one of the heaviest days ever in her entire life and she had exhausted her mental and emotional energy.
The memory of Batman ordering her to put aside her romantic feelings for Renegade flashed through her mind and she felt a small blush appear on her face, grateful that no one was watching her at the time.
The first thing she thought was that Batman was making a bigger mistake than ever before. The very thought of such a thing was nothing short of crazy and unlikely.
The denial was soon replaced by immense confusion and a deeper realization.
Diana could not deny that Renegade has always aroused a sort of intriguing mystery that has always fascinated and attracted her, especially after their first meeting and clash and especially because of the profound, philosophical and emotional discourse that did not suit the mentality of any ordinary seventeen-year-old, which led her to realize that the mercenary was much more mature than most adults she had ever met.
The more she got to know Renegade, the more of a mystery he was and the more she was attracted to his mysterious and dark figure.
That was also the first time Renegade gave her the nickname "Princess" so full of genuine affection that it had confused and annoyed her at first.
From that moment on it was as if everything was downhill.
The first beautiful bouquet of gerberas, Renegade secretly saving the lives of the seven founding members against the Injustice League, the extermination of the Red Sharks, the first time the JL had captured Renegade and his escape from the most secure cells in all of planet, Diana researching Renegade, the second time the mercenary kicked the entire Justice League's ass which was the crucial moment she started to understand him, the whole thing of the missing adults/kids where Renegade helped Zatanna and saved her life at the expense of his own, him helping her in the alien invasion during which they started to understand each other much better and know much more about each other, the second bouquet of gerberas, him preventing Diana from revealing her identity as Wonder Woman to the whole world by neutralizing the terrorist attack and more.
All this while Renegade flirted incessantly with her, even though his flirting was genuinely innocent and friendly but still he gave her the best compliments ever that no one has ever given her in her entire life.
Diana had already understood for a long time that she had begun to genuinely care for Renegade and that this care went far beyond simple esteem and respect. This was proven by the several occasions where she had been fiercely protective of the young assassin, even going against her own team multiple times and she never regretted it, and that her entire being ached every time he did.
She had feelings for Renegade that were completely different from those she had felt in her entire life and towards all the people she had ever known, including in those few romantic relationships she had on Themyscira or in Man's World.
The Amazon couldn't be completely sure whether what she felt for Renegade was romantic attraction or simply a deep friendship.
Surprisingly, however, the idea of a hypothetical romantic relationship with the mercenary, although initially the mere idea surprised her, did not make her feel uncomfortable, annoyed or anything else, on the contrary.
Renegade was hands down one of the best people in the world and probably the best who was making the Earth a better place thanks to his ideal of justice which perfectly mirrored her own. Furthermore, he was one of the sweetest, most thoughtful, kindest and most heart of gold people she has ever met and one of the very few who can make her cheer up and have fun even with little. Renegade was also a person who didn't let anyone command and control him and was very strong and determined in terms of character which led her to respect him a lot, as well as for many other reasons.
Even though they were both technically on opposite sides of the law, Diana didn't care at all: as good friends as they were, they could now also be great romantic partners. Of course, although Renegade was still seventeen and technically a minor, in addition to the fact that he was probably just a few months away from coming of age, there was also to consider the fact that for Wonder Woman practically the entire world population was children in age compared to her since she was many centuries old, excluding Martian Manhunter, the Hawks and a few supervillains.
So the factors of age and that she was a superhero and he was a mercenary anti-hero wouldn't have been much of an obstacle in their hypothetical relationship which would still be exclusively between the two of them, so fuck all those who would have opposed it.
Romantic feelings or not for Renegade, that didn't matter now.
The only thing that mattered was getting Renegade out of the hell he currently found himself in, then everything else came.
The heads of all five heroes snapped almost simultaneously towards the closed doors of the meeting room as they heard what vaguely resembled a muffled scream of pain. They exchanged a brief glance and immediately stood up, sprinting towards the direction where the sounds of chaos and fighting were coming from which were growing louder and louder.
A few seconds later Wonder Woman stopped along one of the corridors, unprepared for what her eyes were showing her.
Deathstroke The Terminator stood, surrounded by the beaten figures of the other heroes.
Superman had a gunshot wound to his right side -definitely a kryptonite bullet- and was barely holding himself against the wall, Flash had his legs broken and tied together by a rope that at first glance seemed very strong, Hal Jordan lay empty of senses and his armor was completely covered in yellow paint which nullified his powers and to top it off Black Canary and Green Arrow lay piled up and full of wounds in a corner of the corridor.
Deathstroke's gaze immediately fell on the newcomers and he let out a cold, menacing chuckle. "Here comes the cavalry. Word of warning: I'm not in the mood to waste time, so either you tell me where the hell Renegade is or I'll kick your ass too." he growled, his height, posture and mass radiating Danger Threat Destruction.
Wonder Woman's arm automatically shot to the side, preventing her teammates from moving forward. She ignored their confusion and surprise, slowly and peacefully raising her hands in the air as she took a step forward, her gaze fixed on the half black half orange mask.
"We don't want to hurt you, Deathstroke." she ignored the assassin's incredulous snort and continued. "I know you are worried about your son and it is honorable that you went this far for him. I'm serious: not all parents would do things like this for their children, so it's clear that Renegade means more to you than anything else in the world."
Renegade's former mentor tilted his head to the side but remained silent.
The princess of Themyscira was not deterred by his silence and continued. "Yesterday Batman managed to capture Renegade with the help of the Justice League without having said anything to me or Zatanna. He managed to neutralize him because he discovered his sensory weaknesses, especially hearing."
The mercenary growled. "How did Batman find out?"
"Apparently it was all part of Amanda Waller's plan." she didn't miss how the man minutely tensed at the mention of the federal government woman's name. "Waller threatened us heroes to reveal our true identities to the entire world if Renegade did not voluntarily turn itself in."
"That bitch." Deathstroke cursed, knowing full well that his son would never allow the heroes and their loved ones to be in such danger. "So Renegade is in Belle Reve now?" he asked with an almost hopeful tone in his voice.
"Unfortunately not." the demigoddess swallowed hard, knowing it was time to reveal the worst parts of the story. "She sent him to one of the A.R.G.U.S. maximum security facilities."
The mercenary stiffened, his heart skipping a beat as his mind momentarily went blank of any coherent thought.
Hell no! Not there, damn it! Anywhere but there!
He clenched his fists, feeling fierce fury, immense worry and terror fill every fiber of his being.
Waller just signed her death warrant. She won't get away with it, not after this.
"And that's not all."
"What? Is there even worse than my son being sent to the most dangerous prison in the world filled with hundreds of mentally ill, depraved, without moral, worst inmates in the world where suddenly their greatest desire will be to break him?" he asked sarcastically in a ferocious pissed off growl.
"Waller wants Renegade to be part of the Suicide Squad."
"What the hell is that?"
"A team of supervillains who must carry out very dangerous and practically suicidal missions on behalf of the federal government who implants bombs in their heads to force them to accept such missions."
Deathstroke stared at Wonder Woman with a flat look behind his mask. "You're fucking kidding me."
"Unfortunately not." the demigoddess shook her head sadly and nodded to her teammates at her side. "And that's why we were going to find a way to undo the government's hold on us and save Renegade."
Renegade's former mentor stared at them one by one for a few seconds. "Are you serious?" he didn't expect the determined nods from the other four heroes but he appreciated them. He knew they could be trusted because it was Wonder Woman who said it and she was a friend of his son -the very thought was so strange but hilarious at the same time: only Dick could become friends with a demigoddess Amazon warrior, who he had a deep crush on since he was only eleven years old, and also with a sorceress-, so he nodded. "Good then. In the morning I will contact you but I only need two of you because I already have other allies I can count on and then there will be too many of us."
"Zatanna and I will come." the demigoddess stated after exchanging a meaningful look with the sorceress.
"Are you sure?" Aquaman began, hesitant and wary. "Deathstroke is a member of the Light." he reminded them.
"Right now he is a worried, pissed off father who will stop at nothing to save his son."
"Wonder Woman is right." Martian Manhunter intervening with a nod. "His emotions are so intense and deep that it's hard for me not to be overwhelmed by them."
"Well, then keep us updated." Hawkgirl demanded, nodding in satisfaction at the nod from the Amazon and the sorceress.
Diana merely let out a sigh as she watched Deathstroke's imposing figure disappear with the zeta tubes.
We will save you, Renegade.