His Weapon
⇒ Main ongoing series with Metahuman!Reader (140k+ words and now with improved nagivation)
⇒ Additional scenes
⇒ AU scenes
⇒ Asks about His Weapon
Ficlets
⇒ Vigilante!Reader (with Slade in trucker disguise) and Part Two
⇒ Slade accidentally hurts you and removes himself from your life. You fall into despair without him and end up getting sectioned. Slade finds a replacement of himself for you but in the end you refuse to move on and he accepts your unconditional love.
⇒ Getting into a car crash (Slade hunts down the driver) and Part Two
⇒ Mercenary trainer!Reader with younger Slade
⇒ Slade hunting you (for fun)
Imagines
⇒ Poly Slade?
⇒ Getting spiked at a party
⇒ On your period
⇒ Slade deals with your abusive ex
⇒ You kill Addie in self defence
⇒ Slade punishing you too far?
⇒ Slade branding you
⇒ Virgin!Reader
⇒ Slade pole dancing for you
⇒ Sub!Slade
⇒ Brat!Reader
⇒ Free use
⇒ Aftercare with Slade
⇒ Teasing Slade while he's working
⇒ You get arrested for exhibitionism and Slade's having the time of his life
⇒ Slade gets hard when you do something slightly suggestive
⇒ Transmasc!Reader
⇒ You're in need of a chiropractor
⇒ Slade giving you wedgies
⇒ Friends with benefits
⇒ You have an oral fixation
Artwork: Slade x Reader & Reader's Suit & Slade x Reader + Meme by @mellosdrawings Comic Reader + Slade x Reader by @void-fluff
Chapters: One ⇒ Two ⇒ Three ⇒ Four ⇒ Five ⇒ Six ⇒ Seven ⇒ Eight ⇒ Nine ⇒ Ten ⇒ Eleven ⇒ Twelve ⇒ Thirteen ⇒ Fourteen ⇒ Fifteen ⇒ Sixteen ⇒ Seventeen
Read on AO3
˚✮⋆.🎧.⋆✮˚ Soundtrack ˚✮⋆.🎧.⋆✮˚
BRODYAGA SYNTH by VXLLAIN & Eternxlkz [Latter part of second scene]
As The Rush Comes by Motorcycle [Noted in chapter]
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Chapter Eighteen [Word Count 12.1k]
“Clear,” you told Pawan who was crouched next to you and Slade. “There are twelve civilians in that shop with the red sign, including two children.” Pawan belayed the information in Nepali on the radio to the four squads you were with and they would escort the civilians out of the area. The squads were made up of armed police officers and soldiers that had defected. Pawan was a police officer who worked under the deputy inspector and he used to be in the army too so he was responsible for coordinating the squads.
You took point and advanced forward along the desolated street with the air spun up in front of you, M4 in hand, and Slade following right behind you.
“The tank is eight hundred metres away and closing,” you explained to Slade as you took cover in between two buildings. “I can disable the barrel.” He wore a covering to conceal his face and pair of tinted ballistic glasses so you couldn't see his eye. He had fatigues on over his Deathstroke armour and wore a standard helmet instead. Your suit was covered like his with fatigues and you had a standard helmet too, you were also carrying a duffel bag filled with spare ammunition, explosives and additional weapons. The four squads were moving to your position.
“Don't shear it off,” he warned, not wanting you to overtly display your powers. The Justice League wouldn't interfere with internal unrest, not after the Buenos Aires massacre. They would only intervene if metahumans were involved or if the violence spread beyond the country's borders. As long as people were killing each other in their own backyard, the Justice League wouldn't bat an eye.
You sensed out to the tank as it was advancing and formed a contained buffer of air underneath the barrel. Over the next ten seconds, you gradually forced the barrel upwards several degrees in order to disable it. With a nod to Slade, he announced to Pawan that the two of you would splinter off and make a sniper's nest on top of a residential building a few blocks ahead. You followed Slade as he pushed forward but you felt something in the air.
“Incoming mortar.”
“Redirect it,” Slade told you. With a flick of your index finger, you pushed the air against the mortar so it landed in the street twenty metres away from the squads. Slade put his arm around you when he reached the residential building and you covered your bodies with smoke from a nearby fire. Landing on the roof, he quickly set up a sniper's nest, getting you to tear down part of the stairwell wall heading down to the floor below as he used the bricks as additional cover. He took the sniper rifle off his back and laid prone as he positioned himself.
Over the next few hours, he was taking out targets as you provided air cover for the squads while they steadily advanced. You guided the squads on where to move, relaying enemy positions and where civilians were holed up. Taking control of the airspace, you redirected mortars and artillery fire, and downed enemy surveillance drones and several FPV drones.
Three enemy helicopters were flying in from the international airport. You forced the lead one to sharply turn over a hundred and eighty degrees and you clipped its tail rotor into another helicopter's tail rotor, managing to avoid a collision between their main rotor blades. They both immediately lost altitude and you prevented them from going into uncontrollable spins and guided them onto the ground where they landed roughly more so than crashed.
The third helicopter deviated from its course and seemingly abandoned its mission. You sensed out to the crews, preventing fires from spreading as they fled from the downed helicopters. Slade fired another round, the noise muffled as you had the air thinned out around the rifle. Crouching down next to Slade, you pulled a magazine from your duffel bag and handed it over for him to reload.
Something launched through the air, an RPG, you threw yourself on top of Slade while forming a buffer of air in front and putting vacuum around your bodies. You didn't hear the explosion, but you felt the blast tearing through the air. Debris and smoke was everywhere, the wall was destroyed, the roof began to collapse.
Pushing air underneath Slade's body, you moved backwards with him as the roof fell away and he took the time to reload his rifle. With him set down on the other side of the roof, you stayed on top of him, preparing for a double tap but he started shifting underneath you.
“They might attack again.”
“Mmmhmm,” he hummed casually, turning onto his side and manoeuvring you until you were facing him on your side too. After he slung the sniper rifle onto his back, he took a bar of chocolate out of his pocket, unwrapping it with his gloves. He pulled down your face covering and fed you a piece.
“Thanks,” you mumbled as you started eating it. Another RPG was fired at your position and you latched onto Slade before it hit. The buffer of air and vacuum kept you both safe. You kept a bubble of air around you so the debris and smoke wouldn't go into his lungs or ruin the chocolate either. It took a few moments for your body to relax as the air cleared and you swallowed down the chocolate. Slade already had another piece waiting and he popped it into your mouth.
For a moment the sweet taste of it and Slade being here with you made the harsh reality of the situation fade away. It was you and him together. You'd keep each other safe, you'd both do what you came here to do and defend the city. When he offered piece number three, you grabbed it from him and pulled down his own face covering, feeding it to him this time.
A few seconds later he was shoving the next piece into your mouth, not giving you the chance to take it and share. As you shook your head at him in mock annoyance, his lips pulled into a smirk and you couldn't help but smile back at him.
- - -
You had been pushing back enemy forces with the squads and with Slade for over fourteen hours.
They'd launched more than twenty missiles at the city, mostly at the police headquarters where the armed resistance was mainly based out of. Some missiles you'd redirected onto the streets and thinned out the air to reduce the intensity of the blast and prevent casualties. Others you'd destroyed in the air long before they hit their target, you made it seem like they were unforeseen technical malfunctions. There were two times when one of the squads launched surface-to-air missiles at the incoming missiles and you ensured they'd intercepted and destroyed them.
You and Slade had returned with the squads to the federal parliament building where hundreds of protestors were camping in after they'd taken it from the authorities the day before. When you'd arrived in Kathmandu, that was where Slade first took you to meet the deputy inspector of police for the city who was also Slade's client. After brief introductions, he had confronted Slade, demanding to know where the promised air defences were.
“We have intelligence that the Prime Minister has negotiated the loan of Chinese fighter jets to take back the city. Your associate promised me that you'd send the best air defences in the world, so where are they?”
“You're looking at it,” Slade had replied nonchalantly, casually gesturing to you. The deputy inspector glanced over at you, the officers flanking him were now staring at you too. You didn't squirm from their sudden attention, you only felt uncomfortable. His frustrated expression turned to one of confusion.
“A metahuman?”
“Yes. This needs to be kept quiet or the Justice League will have cause to intervene and you'll lose the city.”
“We understand what's at stake,” the deputy inspector responded, holding his hand out towards you. You shook his hand and nodded at him. “Thank you for your help.”
You'd then spent less than fifteen minutes getting up to speed with the situation on the ground before you were deployed with the four squads. That was almost a day ago now.
After all those hours defending the city, you followed behind Slade unable to stop yawning, as Pawan escorted you both onto the roof. Along the way, you passed protestors that had settled in for the night. A lot of them were young, it was the students that had led the anti-corruption movement after all. Quite a few were already asleep, tucked into blankets or sleeping bags, some protestors were eating and sharing food or they were on their phones.
The government had implemented a partial internet blackout with the main social media platforms becoming inaccessible, but the protestors were using alternatives which hadn't been cottoned onto yet. There were Nepali flags and banners all over the walls and hanging off the sides of the stairwells.
A squad was stationed on one end of the roof, you and Slade were positioned at the other. He set down his two cases of gear and you put down the duffel bag you were carrying and your backpack too. You laid down next to him and closed your eyes, he would keep watch.
The next thing you knew, Slade was tapping on your shoulder and waking you up. It was 3am, you'd had less than an hour and a half of sleep but at least you managed to get some rest. The risk of airstrikes was only going to increase exponentially as dawn approached. He handed you a MRE while you were still wiping at your eyes, citing that you needed the calories.
After eating, you were on high alert, sensing out into the airspace as you stood with your eyes closed. Slade was sitting on one of his cases of gear, cleaning his sniper rifle and listening for any updates on the encrypted radio. He had the sound turned down so low you couldn't hear it at all.
The winds weren't singing to you at the moment, knowing that you were focusing on monitoring the airspace. They were right here with you though, just like Slade was. You were keeping dense clouds across the city and far beyond it as a means of explanation for any sudden wind shear you created.
It was unknown how many fighter jets would be used to launch airstrikes across the city. The deputy inspector of police had given you specific areas where missiles could be redirected to, areas that had been completely cleared of all civilians. There were also some parks and open spaces where you could guide the missiles into.
Slade had given you leave to disable one of the incoming fighters, to make it appear like it was a simple weapons malfunction. You could also destroy a small number of missiles while they were airborne, but the majority had to impact the ground. There had to be significant visible damage, the attack needed to be ineffective rather than non-existent. You couldn't risk exposure.
At the first inklings of the sunrise, you felt a whole squadron of jets cutting through the air and heading to the city.
“Air raid,” you confirmed to Slade.
“Position?”
“Incoming from the north west along the India-China border, they'll be in Nepali airspace imminently if they're not already.”
“Formation?”
“A full squadron of twelve fighters, they all feel fully loaded. ETA fifteen minutes maybe.” He nodded and got onto the radio to raise the alarm about the incoming air raid. You kept sensing out to them, feeling as they were getting closer and closer.
They were moving in pairs, the two fighters in each pair were a good quarter of a mile from each other. All of the pairs were then spaced a mile or so from the next. It wasn't long until sirens started sounding across the city, their low wailing was almost unsettling to hear.
“Same as before,” Slade reminded you to continue being covert. This would be so much easier if you could just make all the fighters plummet to the ground in one fell swoop and be done with it, but that would draw far too much attention.
You nodded at him and focused back on the fighters, some of their air-to-surface missiles were in range now at less than forty miles away. Closing your eyes, you readied yourself to attack, facing the direction they were coming from.
Increasing the wind shear a few miles from the incoming fighters, you felt them getting thrown around slightly from the severe air turbulence. They all increased altitude and climbed around a thousand feet, they were undeterred. The fighters at the front of the pack then launched the first wave of missiles, you could feel them tearing through the air towards the city.
When one fighter near the back released its first pair of missiles, you made one of them explode less than twenty yards from its right wing. As the debris made impact, the fighter immediately lost altitude, the pilot and wizzo weren't incapacitated and would eject imminently.
Focusing on the incoming barrage of missiles, you began flicking your fingers, pushing the air against a missile at a time. The sudden spin ripped them apart and made them explode, you could feel their shock waves rippling through the air. After destroying nine missiles, you let the others head right into the city.
While you were slowing down the missiles that were launched last, you were directing the first half into the designated areas. You sectioned off the missiles into small groups or pairs as you forced them down to the ground. Booms echoed across the city as they made impact. You quickly worked through the remaining missiles you'd slowed down, guiding them to the areas or to open spaces.
There was a brief reprieve for about fifteen seconds and then the second wave began. Less than ten miles from the city centre, the fighters were launching the remaining missiles with the shortest range. Nearly fifty of them were hurtling through the air.
“Bravo 1, fire,” Slade ordered over the radio. A surface-to-air missile shot up into the sky and you directed it towards the incoming missiles.
You spun up the air a mile ahead of some of them, creating a vortex thirty metres wide and tall, and you guided around seven missiles towards it. Pressing the palm of one hand against the back of the other hand, you held the vortex in place as the missiles began impacting it. Directing the surface-to-air missile at the vortex, you were making it look as if that had intercepted the missiles, and not you. You slowed down the missiles at the far end of the barrage, once again forcing the ones at the front to the ground, onto the streets.
“Bravo 3, fire.”
Concentrating on working faster, you guided the second surface-to-air missile as it launched towards the barrage and into an incoming missile. You were then raining down missile after missile onto the city, each one hitting the designated areas. Most of the fighters had already peeled off and turned away from the city, but the pair at the back kept coming. You couldn't sense anymore missiles under their wings, the fuckers were going to do strafing runs, weren't they?
“Two fighters incoming, both out of missiles. I think they're going to start strafing.”
“Target?”
“First one's probably going for the police HQ.” While Slade got on the radio, both fighters kept dropping altitude until they were well under 500 feet. You were spinning up the air in front of the first fighter, as soon as the rotary canon fired, the rounds were immediately deflected onto its left wing. Another unfortunate malfunction.
The rotary canon stopped firing and the fighter pitched upwards and turned, its engines roaring as it abandoned its run. Behind it, the second fighter was heading right for the federal parliament building.
As it approached, you raised your elbow, spinning up the air and deflecting the rounds away from the building when it fired, the low brrrt noise was audible for a split second before you heard the rounds impacting the ground.
Bits of his shredded body fell to the ground, you stared in horror at the mangled pieces of flesh.
No. . .no, you weren't there. You could taste bile in the back of your throat. You weren't there. Everyone down below was safe. They were alive, you could feel them. You could feel all of them.
Opening your eyes, you watched the fighter fly overhead, the incredibly loud roar of its engines hurting your ears. You belatedly thinned out the air around your ears and Slade's. Another surface-to-air missile was suddenly launched from close by and it clipped the fighter's wing. The crew were unable to eject before the fighter exploded mid air, the fireball lighting up the surrounding area. You manoeuvred the flaming debris to crash onto the street, avoiding any buildings.
No other fighters returned for a strafing run, the airspace was finally secure. Huffing out a breath, you were about to talk to Slade when you felt something on the roof a good seventy yards away. It felt like the shape of a person standing, around Slade's height and build, but couldn't feel them breathing at all. It definitely wasn't anyone from the squad, you could feel them all on the other side of the roof.
You turned towards it, not seeing anything there. The person then simply. . .dissipated into nothing until you couldn't feel them anymore.
“Kid?”
“I thought I felt someone on the roof, but they're gone now.”
“Evac, now!” Slade ordered, grabbing onto a case of gear and lifting up his right leg. Wrenching down the cloud cover, you pushed the air underneath his boot as you launched up into the air with him. You forced the air under your backpack and accelerated it towards you, grabbing onto it before taking hold of Slade's hand.
He attached himself onto your harness as you went supersonic and you kept increasing speed, wanting to put as much distance as possible between you and whatever or whoever that was.
- - -
You were sitting across the dining table from Slade in his Kolkata safehouse.
When you'd arrived, you started describing what you felt on the roof but he told you to wait until the debrief. You'd rolled your eyes at him as you helped him take off his armour, him and his debriefs. He of course had to take a shower and insisted you do the same.
With the camera set on the table and now recording, he sat down on the chair wearing just a robe and requested you to describe everything that happened since arriving at Zoe's school to extract her to then what happened in Kathmandu. As you recounted it all, he asked you questions here and there until you were finally explaining what you felt on the roof.
“I felt the shape of a person standing, but it didn't feel like normal. They were around your height and build and I couldn't feel them breathing at all. Then they just. . .dissipated into nothing. It was like they disappeared completely.”
“Were they going down?”
“Uhh. . .I think so, yeah.” He glanced away from you, the expression on his face suggested that he knew something. “Do you know who it was?”
“Probably the Martian.”
“Martian Manhunter?”
“Mmm. The league likes to keep an eye on things, he'd be the best choice for it.” Martian Manhunter had been less than a hundred yards from you both? You felt unsettled, knowing what powers he had, flight, shapeshifting, phasing and telepathy to name a few.
“Do you think he read our minds?”
“Not mine. I would have felt him riffling around up there.”
“Oh.” That meant he could have been reading your mind, hearing your thoughts as you thought them, all the while you didn't suspect a thing. Did he violate you? And you didn't even know? What if he'd taken control of you? What if he'd put you into a coma and you couldn't have done anything to stop him? What if he'd done that to Slade too? Incapacitated the both of you and alerted the authorities to take you in? He'd violated you, hadn't he?
You were feeling more than a little nauseous as you stared at the table, mind racing with possibilities about what could have happened.
“Kid. Follow me,” Slade directed you, reaching out and taking you by the hand. He guided you into the office and sat you down on the chair while he perched on the desk. He spoke on the phone with Pawan for updates. There were no further airstrikes on the city. Enemy soldiers had been active again in the outskirts and tried to push forwards but they stopped their advance when Superman had been first spotted hovering over the city about an hour and a half ago, not long after you and Slade had left.
He was flying over the destroyed buildings, surveying them by the looks of it and searching for anyone buried under the rubble. He recovered two bodies from one of the buildings that was in the designated areas that was supposed to be empty. You'd done all that could to avoid casualties, you were sorry that they were dead but there wasn't anything else you could have done without risking capture.
Pawan reported that twenty-six people were injured as a result of the airstrikes and only a few of them were in a serious condition. With Superman still in the city, an unofficial ceasefire was in effect, though it wouldn't hold out for long. After Slade cooked you breakfast, you hovered in the living room and got some much needed sleep.
It was well into the evening when you finally woke up. Slade updated you on the situation while he was cooking dinner. The enemy advance resumed when Superman had left the city, but they captured only part of a city district. The deputy inspector spoke to Superman himself and asked him to confirm the location of the Prime Minister so they could arrest him and later try him for treason and corruption. Superman had provided the exact location and an operation was being planned to extract the Prime Minister and it would take place very soon after midnight.
You felt like a spare part. You wanted to help, you wanted to be there and finish the job that you and Slade had started but you knew that wouldn't happen. The risk was too high, he'd never sanction it, especially with Superman in the mix. You could only hope that the operation was a success, that after the Prime Minister was detained, the army would see the writing on the wall and lay down their arms.
The protestors had the will, all they needed was the means, and maybe now they had it.
- - -
“Payment's been sent,” Slade confirmed through the small earpiece you were wearing.
“Okay, talk later,” you replied, thinning out the air and keeping your mouth still. After Slade hung up, you glanced up from your phone to the engineer sitting at his computer. “The final payment should be with you shortly.”
“Righto,” he replied, turning to check the screen. Your eyes flicked around the workshop before settling on the box at the end of the engineer's desk. It was your brand new rebreather, sitting and waiting for you, you couldn't wait to try it out.
The workshop was in the outskirts of Melbourne and the flight from India to Australia had taken less than three and a half hours. You'd left only when you'd received confirmation that the Prime Minister had been arrested and the operation had been a success. Slade wanted you to leave sooner but you'd insisted.
The rebreather's air time was just over eighteen hours which was triple the amount your current one provided. You could fly around the world without stopping at all. If you kept upping your speed, you would be able to complete the full circumnavigation twice over.
“The payment's been received,” the engineer confirmed and got off his chair to grab the box and hand it over to you. “Let Mr. Hayden know that we packed more scrubber than he requested as a small thank you for his investment.”
“Okay, thanks,” you replied with a smile. You held back questions you wanted to ask, what parts of the rebreather did he personally design and make, how did they manage to calibrate the scrubber so well. You were just a courier after all, with your jacket and the short wig on under the cap. The engineer guided you out of the workshop and you nodded at him to say goodbye. You walked down the path towards the street.
“Where's your wheels, mate?”
“Oh I. . .take the train.”
“Got you. . .” he muttered, sounding unhappy about it. “You be careful with that or Mr. Hayden will have you.”
“I'll take care of it. Thanks again,” you called out as you headed off. Walking further down the street, you found a bench near the entrance to a shopping centre and excitedly opened the box when you sat down. The rebreather was somehow about the same size as your one, and it was slightly slimmer in its profile too. As the engineer had promised, there was extra scrubber and several small oxygen cylinders as well.
Taking the old rebreather out of the backpack, you tucked it into the duffel bag along with the additional scrubber and cylinders. You placed the new rebreather into your backpack, its new home.
After checking that there were no identifying marks on the box and the packaging, you threw it away in the bin outside of one of the shops. You walked around to the back of them as you pulled down the cloud cover. With no cameras in the vicinity, you hid behind some dumpsters and stripped out of the courier disguise, putting the suit and helmet on and strapping the pony bottle around your thigh. Connecting up the rebreather, you smiled as the loop began working and then you put on the wrist device.
You re-read the texts Joey had sent after you'd left the Kolkata safehouse. Slade had told him you were going down under and wondered whether you could meet up with him tonight in Sydney. He'd take the Titans' Zeta tube there and explained that Rose wouldn't be able to make it as she'd be sleeping off a night of patrolling Blüdhaven.
You'd agreed and you'd be meeting up with him in just over six hours, allowing for plenty of time to properly test the rebreather. Heading west, you followed the coastline and did an almost total circumnavigation of Australia going clockwise, almost a big lap. For most of the journey, you were doing high altitude falls and within the first hour you managed to push past Mach 3. You called up Slade and of course he encouraged you to push for Mach 4.
The hours passed very quickly and the rebreather worked perfectly. You were slapping liquid latex onto your neck as you sat on the roof of skyscraper in Sydney. While you redid your makeup, you formed a contained buffer of air to quickly dry your neck. After finishing up and putting on the long wig, you tucked the satellite phone into your jacket as you'd probably exceed its half a mile range.
The skyscraper was much taller than the buildings you'd used before to hide the duffel bag and your backpack. With the explosive armed, you brought down the cloud cover and climbed onto the ledge. Stepping off the roof to landing on the pavement took about ten seconds and you kept your body upright the whole way as you fell through the air.
You headed to the train station where the Zeta tube was hidden inside, using your phone for directions at first and then following the signage. The Justice League and the Titans had a network of Zeta tubes in cities across the world and they were usually hidden in transport hubs.
After arriving at the station, you waited for a few minutes near the line of ticketing machines. Checking the time, Joey should have just arrived. Sensing out behind a staff only door, you felt someone walking along the corridor and they felt like Joey. As you headed towards it, Joey opened up the door and closed it behind him, spotting you approaching amongst the passersby.
“Hey, Joey,” you saluted him and signed the letter J.
Hey, S. He signed back.
How was the journey? You asked, bending your index and middle finger and moving your hand almost in a complete circle.
I'm used to them now, at first they were weird and made me feel really nauseous but now I can just taste metal in my mouth.
Should we get something to wash it down? He pressed his index finger against his temple, shifted it to his mouth and then moved it away from him.
Finding a nice pub by the harbour, you both ordered some non-alcoholic drinks. It would be a little early for Joey to start drinking as it was only half-eight in the morning in Blüdhaven and he'd eaten breakfast right before he'd left. The place was pretty busy but Joey found a quiet corner, and a band was playing some live music which wasn't too loud.
He chatted to you via the small earpiece and told you about his interest in music, he mainly played piano and guitar and he used to sing when he was younger. You glimpsed at the sadness in his eyes for a brief moment before it faded away. He used to play in a band every now and then but things got busy with work and with the Titans.
He asked you about what happened in Kathmandu as Slade must have mentioned it to him and you briefly described the day spent pushing back enemy forces.
“Pop said you were the air defence for the whole city.”
“Well the squads had a few Javelins and MANPADS so it wasn't just me.”
“So mostly you then?” He asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face.
“Uhh. . .yeah,” you admitted, smiling back at him sheepishly. His smirk turned into a wide grin and he looked at you for a long moment before replying.
“Do you want to go to a club?”
“Sure.”
“It's umm a gay club.”
“Okay.”
“That's. . .okay with you?”
“Of course. Are you ready to go now?”
The gay club was a ten minute walk away and after waiting in the queue and paying the entrance fee, you headed inside. It was packed, the dance floor was almost at capacity, and you felt the bass of the music pleasantly reverberating around your chest. As you followed Joey through the crowd to the bar, he came to a halt and turned around to you.
“You should stay close to me otherwise people will think we're not together.”
“Okay,” you replied, thinning out the air so you didn't have to shout. He shifted closer and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear, his fingers running along the back of your ear and down your jaw briefly.
“I only want to dance with you, S.” The voice in the earpiece was slightly quieter than before.
“Me too.” You smiled at him and he grinned at you, taking hold of your hand and guiding you to the bar. After you ordered two mocktails, Joey took you to one of the seating areas and you sat next to him in a booth. He shifted in closer until your sides and legs were pressed together, no doubt he didn't want anyone bothering him with unwanted advances. You'd make sure that he was okay.
He grimaced when he tried his mocktail and immediately set it down on the table. You insisted he have some of yours instead and you curiously sipped at his drink, wondering how bad it was. You immediately regretted the decision, unable to put a name to what the flavour was, only that it was terrible. His body was juddering slightly as he was no doubt laughing at you.
“It reminds me of this girl I almost hooked up with and her lip gloss tasted like this. It must have been expired or something, it was disgusting.” You had to insist a couple of times that he finish the rest of your drink until he finally acquiesced.
“I bet your lips wouldn't taste like that,” Joey continued as you slid the rancid mocktail further across the table away from you both.
“I didn't put anything on them, just a bit of liner here,” you responded, pointing around your mouth. You thought back to the first time Slade had taught you how to change the shape of your lips, that seemed like such along time ago now.
“Ready to dance?”
“Sure.” He led you onto the dance floor and before you started dancing his hand was on the small of your back as he shifted you closer to him.
“Is this okay?” He asked and you knocked your fist twice in response.
I'll take care of you. You signed to him.
“Yeah?” You nodded and knocked your fist in unison for emphasis.
You were dancing with Joey much closer than last time with him and Rose. Being at clubs before, you didn't care about the people around you aside for assessing them for being an imminent threat. So you were focusing on them more, making sure no one bothered Joey.
When a guy looked like he was about to talk to Joey, you put your hands on Joey's shoulders and turned him around so he was where you'd been. He winked at you after the guy moved away through the crowd and you continued dancing with him unperturbed.
A few songs later, Joey rested his hands on your hips as you danced with him. He must have spotted someone about to approach him. You were both moving to the rhythm of the song which had this heady, almost ethereal atmosphere to it. Your arms were in the air as you felt the winds up above, they were dancing too. You were moving your hips as you danced, Joey was moving along with you.
While you were dancing, you briefly glanced at him, noticing that there was this almost serious expression on his face. He was looking right at you before his eyes flicked down for a second. Your body slowed, arms fell down to your sides, wondering whether something was wrong. Joey pulled your body against his and leaned in to kiss you. His lips pressed against yours, you stopped moving entirely. He was. . .he was kissing you?
Unable to do anything but blink in shock, you felt his tongue against your bottom lip before he suddenly pulled back, taking his hands off you completely. You stared at him, watching his expression fall until he looked upset.
“I thought you said you were bi.” You pointed at your chest, signing that you were.
“You're just not into me?” He asked and you shook your head at him. Joey began signing so quickly that you were struggling to understand everything he was saying.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I didn't realise that. . .and I thought you were into me. . .so I wouldn't have-
“Joey,” you forced yourself to speak, needing to calm him down. “It's okay. I. . . I don't see you that way, I'm sorry.” You'd thinned out the air around you both so he could hear you clearly.
I've messed things up, haven't I?
“No, you haven't at all. We're good.” He didn't seem convinced. “You're very sweet and I'm sure you know how handsome you are. But Slade's my friend and you're his son and I can't. . .see you in that way. It feels weird to me. So please don't take this personally, okay? You haven't messed up anything.”
Are you sure?
“I promise you that I'm sure.” You asked him for a hug by clenching your fists and bringing them to your chest with your arms crossed over.
He hugged you and you held onto him tightly, hoping that he believed you. A new song came on and you couldn't help moving your lower body in time with the infectious beat, you also hoped that it might make him feel a little better. Joey was genuinely smiling at you when he pulled back and you grinned at him, glad he wasn't upset anymore. As you moved faster, he started joining though not with the same enthusiasm as before.
“If you didn't know Pop, I would have had a chance then?” He asked through the earpiece as he looked at you curiously.
“Uhh. . .yeah.” He nodded solemnly to your answer. You couldn't help but think of Joey's ex and what Slade did. You hoped that what you were about to say would help. “If it wasn't for Slade, I never would have met you at all and I'm glad that I did.”
- - -
You headed into the server room for your weekly check up.
Slade made a detour to the bedroom and came in wearing a pair of pajama bottoms. He'd cooked and eaten breakfast wearing nothing but the comfy slippers. With the camera recording, he started by asking how your week was.
“Busy but it's been good,” you replied to him. You'd extracted Zoe from her 'foster family' in California and reunited her with her father, and then you'd then gone to Kathmandu right afterwards.
“Physical health?”
“Neutral.”
“Any current injuries?”
“My hands are still aching a bit.”
“Sexual health?”
“Unsatisfactory.”
“How many times did you masturbate this week?”
“Once.”
“Last sexual partner?”
“Same as before,” you answered as nonchalantly as possible. You didn't see that kiss with Joey as being sexual so you weren't lying, you supposed that he had and the thought of it made you feel weird.
“Are you sure?” He asked, staring at you unblinking. Shit, did he know? No, no, he would have pointed out that you were lying. Right? Maybe he meant something else.
“I guess. . .you, if you're counting a kiss on the cheek as sexual,” you tried to joke.
“I'm not.”
“Oh. . .well same as before then.”
“I told you not to lie to me.”
“I know,” you responded quietly, unable to look him in the eye anymore. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapping on the screen a few times before playing a video. It was. . .shit. It was surveillance footage from inside the club, you and Joey were in the centre of the frame with his hands on your hips as he pulled you against him and leaned into kiss you. Looking away from the phone, nerves flittered wildly around your gut as you waited for his response.
He was going to be livid, wasn't he? You had touched his child. You'd been so shocked by Joey kissing you that you didn't push him away, you couldn't process what was happening. No doubt from the video, it would look like you were reciprocating the kiss. It was your fault that it had happened in the first place, you were the one giving out incorrect signals.
Only during the flight back to the bunker did you realise that Joey was actually flirting with you when he said that your lips wouldn't taste like that girl's lip gloss. In hindsight it made sense, but at the time it had escaped you entirely. You had re-evaluated everything that happened, him saying that he only wanted to dance with you, that had been flirting too, hadn't it? And then him touching your face. All the while it seemed like you were happily playing along, no wonder he'd misinterpreted your intentions.
“What do you call this exactly?” Slade questioned.
“It was. . .just a. . .” You didn't want to put the blame on Joey and call it a misunderstanding. “Friendly kiss.”
“Shoving your tongue down someone's throat is friendly now? Come on, kid. If you're going to lie to me at least put some effort into it.” You lowered your head away from him, what the fuck were you supposed to say? “Who initiated?”
“I did,” you blurted out for some reason.
“Did you like it?”
“What?”
“Did you like kissing my boy?”
“I. . .I don't know.”
“Did it feel good or not?” You sat there frozen, unable to formulate a reply. “Hmm, if you're not giving an immediate yes then he obviously needs to work on his game. I'll let him know.”
“You'll. . .what?”
“Is there a problem?”
“You can't say that to him.”
“Are you trying to dictate what I can and can not say to my own son?”
“No. . .”
“As I said, I'll let him know.”
“It's not. . .”
“Hmm?”
“Please don't tell him that.”
“Why?”
“Because. . .”
“Because what, it's not true?” You. . .didn't know if it was true or not. You didn't really register if the kiss was good, you couldn't get past the fact that it was happening in the first place. You nodded at him, trying not to physically squirm in the seat. “Verbal response, kid.”
“Yeah, it's. . .not true,” you managed to say.
“I knew he takes after me,” he replied, smirking at you proudly. Somehow your lie had escaped his attention. “Do you find my boy attractive?”
“No,” you answered immediately, it took you a moment to realise you shouldn't have responded so quickly.
“You don't find him attractive but you kissed him? Wait, you gave him a friendly kiss. Is that right?”
“Uhh. . .yeah.” Your response practically sounded like a question.
“I'm your friend, aren't I?”
“Yeah. . .” you replied hesitantly, knowing that you weren't going to like what he was about to say next.
“So why haven't you shoved your tongue down my throat?” You stared at him helplessly and you could see his mouth twitching like he was holding back a smile. “Is that because you find me attractive? You've got a kind of backwards thing going on, hmm?”
His Adam's apple was shifting up and down, he wasn't just holding back a smile, he was holding back a laugh. The tension was dissipating from your muscles, you were relieved he wasn't upset. A heavy sigh escaped you.
“Do you even know what you're saying anymore?” He asked, amusement laced through his tone.
“Not really,” you admitted weakly.
“He kissed you, didn't he.”
“It was my fault. I gave out the wrong signals.”
“Did you think I'd be upset that he initiated it?”
“Well. . .no.”
“So what are you protecting him from?”
“I don't know.”
“Tell me what actually happened.”
“When he put his hands on me, I thought we were just dancing but then he. . .kissed me and I just. . .froze.”
“Did you think he was a good kisser?”
“I didn't notice, I was kind of too shocked.”
“And you didn't want him to kiss you?”
“No. He's your child, it's. . .weird.”
“Why didn't you explain that in the first place?”
“Uhh. . .”
“Did you think I was going to be upset?”
“Yeah.”
“About what?”
“Well. . .it was my fault.”
“Why do you think I'd be upset if it was?”
“Because he's your child,” you explained, surely that was obvious.
“So?”
“It's not. . .appropriate.”
“You're both adults, aren't you?”
“It's not appropriate to me, okay?” He didn't press you on the matter any further.
“Don't lie to me next time,” he chided you, more gently than expected.
“Well. . .the first bit technically-”
“Kid.”
“Sorry.” You pressed your lips together, trying to hold back a smile. He raised his eyebrow and looked only a little annoyed. The rest of the check up went okay, with that now off your shoulders there was nothing else to conceal.
After taking a piss in the bedroom's ensuite, Slade called you into the security room. On the screens were videos and live footage from Kathmandu, people were celebrating in the streets.
“The army's surrendered and the top brass have been arrested. New elections have been scheduled in three months time.” You stared in wonder at the sights before you. Tears of joy were on people's faces, crowds were singing, the banners and national flags were fluttering in the winds.
“They won?” You asked Slade, needing the confirmation.
“Yeah, kid.”
“We helped them. . .we helped make that happen,” you muttered, realising the gravity of what you and Slade did defending the capital, preventing the army from capturing it and re-establishing order under the rule of the corrupt Prime Minister and his government. This wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for the two of you.
“I'm amending your schedule for today,” you told Slade as you rushed out of the security room and into the living room. You opened up the box of cigars in the cabinet, unsure which one to pick as they had different stickers on them. Selecting one with a red orange sticker, you put the box away and headed to the door where Slade was leaning against its frame with his arms crossed.
“You think you can amend my schedule?” He challenged as you approached him.
“Yeah,” you replied, handing over the cigar and smirking at him. “Get some whiskey and meet me on the back porch.”
“Kid,” he began to protest as you slipped past him and hurried along the corridor.
“The whiskey's for you,” you clarified before rushing down the stairs. You hurried over to where your suit was on the mannequin alongside his suits of armour and grabbed your vape from the backpack. Rather than using your feet, you flew back up the stairs, along the corridor and up into the basement. Slade was pulling up the security panel from the floor when you got there, bottle of whiskey and a glass was set down by it. You grabbed them both for him and waited impatiently for him to finish and open up the back door.
As you went outside, you saw him heading to one of the dining room chairs and you told him you didn't need it. You lifted up off the porch and hovered with your legs crossed by the wicker chair. He walked past you, now naked for some reason as he wasn't wearing the pajama bottoms or the comfy slippers, only an eyepatch.
“The smell will ruin the pants,” he explained when you raised your eyebrow at him. You reached over to him and pulled his eyepatch off his head. Using the air to open up the door, you flicked your finger and guided the eyepatch inside, setting it down on the dining table. He was giving you an unimpressed look so you poured out a finger of whiskey in the glass and handed it over to him.
He accepted it after a moment, taking a sip and placing it on the armrest before lighting his cigar with a match. As he smoked, you started vaping, sitting in comfortable silence for several minutes.
The weather was pleasantly warm, the skies were clear, it was a beautiful vivid blue. A strong breeze was making the trees around the safehouse shift in their wake. The grass had grown. You thought back to when you'd run across it, when you were wearing the stealth suit for the very first time. Slade was sitting exactly where he was now. That was the first time you'd ever flown for the sheer joy of it.
You couldn't help but start playing with the smoke, intertwining it together, forming vortices and bubbles at random. He finished off the glass and held it out, you took the bottle resting in your lap and topped him up.
You hadn't celebrated after the breakout in Caracas, you weren't in any mind to. But now, you wanted to take a moment with him, to let it all sink in. You felt. . .you felt proud of yourself, you felt proud of Slade. Closing your eyes for a moment, you heard the winds singing to you. They were proud of you too.
Saving over a hundred prisoners was one thing, but the two of you had altered the trajectory of an entire country, over thirty million people. The scale of it was awe-inspiring and incomprehensible, you couldn't help but let out a laugh.
“We did good, didn't we,” you remarked after he had another sip. You were grinning at him while he looked at you for a long moment.
“Mmm,” he hummed, continuing to smoke the cigar as he maintained eye contact. Turning to look out at the trees, you took a long drag from the vape and let the smoke fly off with the winds. “I've got another job for you.”
“Tell me about it later, okay?” You glanced over at him and reached out to tuck a strand of hair by his empty eye socket behind his ear. “Let's just enjoy this.”
“Alright, kid.”
- - -
There were three people on the transport jet.
Flying under its fuselage, you slowly thinned out the air in the cockpit, wondering whether the pilots would notice that they were becoming hypoxic. One of them did so you simply stopped the air from going into their oxygen mask.
When they were both unconscious, you forced open the cargo door at the back of the jet and flew inside, forming a bubble of air around the opening to prevent depressurisation. In the cargo hold to the left was a glass holding cell laid flat on the floor with cylinders attached to it. To the right was a strange creature in a straitjacket, chained down to the floor. You felt disgust and anger when you recognised who he. . .who it was.
Weasel. Name – unknown. Murderer, rapist, paedophile, cannibal. Its yellow eyes were on you. Focusing your attention on the holding cell, the glass was frosted over. The cylinders appeared to be filled with liquid nitrogen. The bastards were keeping Dr. Isley frozen during the transfer. You pushed the air inside the cell against the glass and forced it open, pushing the liquid nitrogen away from you as it poured out.
Dr. Isley was naked, her skin was a pale green, her hair looked brittle. There were dark markings on her skin that looked like tree branches.
You carefully lifted her body up into the air and used the device Slade gave you to check whether she had any trackers. Thankfully she was all clear so you quickly put the stealth suit on her, along with the mask, goggles, helmet, harness and boots. As you were prepping her for flight, Weasel was struggling wildly against the restraints, it was totally focused on you. It was like it was desperate to attack you more so than escape. That monster had killed children, eaten their flesh. You were not going to allow it to live.
With a wave of your hand, a blast of air ripped the chains clean from the floor and shoved Weasel right out of the open cargo door. You felt its body plummeting to the ground and flung out two cylinders of liquid nitrogen out of the plane. At around ten thousand feet, you felt the shock wave of its head exploding.
Accelerating the cylinders to the remains of its corpse, you made them both explode, ripping its body apart into pieces and feeling them fall through the air. It couldn't hurt another child ever again.
With Dr. Isley strapped onto your back, you flew with her out of the jet, closed the door behind you and returned the air to normal in the cockpit. The pilots would wake up soon. Launching up to the stratosphere, you went supersonic and accelerated past Mach 2. You were flying south over the Gulf of Mexico, checking your wrist device for a densely forested area as Dr. Isley would probably heal faster in nature.
Finding an area in Oaxaca, you dropped altitude and speed and brought down the cloud cover. You couldn't sense anyone for miles and you flew down just above the forest as you tried to find a space to get through. You sensed movement down below and automatically dodged out of the way when a branch suddenly reached up. They wanted her, didn't they? You immediately unstrapped her, disconnected her from the rebreather and held her up with the air as you moved out of the way. Multiple vines wrapped around her limbs and pulled her down below.
More vines and branches started coming up all around you, you didn't want to hurt them so you let them take hold of you and wrench you down into the trees. They roughly wrapped around your legs and arms, pulling the backpack off you before encircling your waist and then taking off your helmet too. The vines wrapped around your neck while you were suspended off the ground. They thought that you'd hurt her, didn't they? You relaxed your body, trying not to appear as a threat.
“It's alright, she's free. She's free now.” The hold tightened around your throat. “She's safe. It's alright,” you reassured them while you used your hand to caress the branches closest to your grasp. You kept softly hushing the plants around you, pushing a soft breeze through the trees. They loosened their hold around your neck and you thanked them. They still had your limbs firmly in their grasp, they were probably waiting until Dr. Isley woke up.
You closed your eyes, listening to the winds singing to you as the air shifted through the leaves and the plants all around. How long would it take for Dr. Isley to heal? Did they drug her before they froze her? Or was she conscious the whole time until her brain stopped working completely? You couldn't help but think back to the night you'd escaped the facility with Slade. It had been so cold. Your entire body had hurt from shaking so much. Would she have felt that too? The earpieces beeped as a call came through, disturbing you from your rest.
“Sit rep?” Slade immediately asked.
“I've freed Dr. Isley and brought her to a forest in Oaxaca to heal because she was still unconscious. They were. . .keeping her frozen in a containment cell on the jet. Did Dr. Villain extract the explosive?”
“He did, the clown's still out of it, mercifully. Nothing else to report?”
“Dr. Isley wasn't alone. Weasel was there too so I pushed him. . .I pushed it off the plane and when its head exploded I made sure they wouldn't have a body to recover.” Slade didn't respond for a moment, when he did, he didn't sound happy at all.
“We will discuss that later. Bring Isley to the rendezvous point now.”
“Uhh. . .right now? Can't she. . .heal a bit more?”
“She can defrost on the way here.”
“Oh. . .uhh. . .”
“Kid,” Slade prompted, knowing that you hadn't told him everything.
“Well I'm. . .heh. . .a little tied up right now.”
“I asked you for a sit rep. What's happening?”
“The plants thought that I'd hurt her so they're keeping hold of me until Dr. Isley wakes up.”
“Why can't you break free? Are you injured?”
“No, I'm fine. I. . .haven't tried to break free. I don't want to hurt them.”
“Get out. Now.” You felt movement further down below, near where they'd first taken her in, but you couldn't feel her breathing.
“I think she's awake, hold on. Dr. Isley? Are you okay?” The plants started lowering you towards the ground and pushed you up until you were upright and still restrained. Dr. Isley emerged from layer after layer of thick undergrowth, she was no longer wearing any of the gear you'd put on her, the plants were wrapped around her naked body.
The stealth suit, mask, helmet, goggles, harness and boots were all being held up by vines several feet away from her. The green hue of her skin was much more vivid now, her hair was bright red and no longer looked brittle. She looked alive.
“Odd little human, aren't you?” She mused, looking you over.
“Uhh. . .yeah.”
“You didn't even attempt to hurt my children and now you are at their mercy.”
“Why would I hurt them? I'm here to help you. My name is Seraph, I got you off the plane they were transporting you in. They were keeping you frozen, I thought coming here would help heal you. I'm going to take you to Dr. Quinzel, she's your friend, right?”
“That's one word for it.”
“The explosive has been safely removed from her neck and she's in recovery at the moment. I can get a photo of her for you, if you'd like that?”
“Very well.”
“I'm on a call with Deathstroke right now, I'll ask him. Did you hear that?”
“Check your phone,” Slade replied through the earpieces.
“My phone's in my front suit pocket, I'll need to unlock it.” One of your arms was freed so you pulled out the phone, unlocked it and brought up the photo for Dr. Isley. You passed the phone to the nearest vine which then passed it over to her. She inspected the photo for a few moments, her expression remaining impassive but there was a flicker of emotion in her eyes.
“If she tries anything, get out of there. Understand?” Slade told you firmly.
“Okay,” you replied, thinning out the air so she wouldn't hear you. The vines brought your backpack into view and started pulling out what was inside.
“There are explosives in there,” you warned as the rebreather was pulled out along with the bottles of water, autoinjectors, utility knife and the Glock 19 with additional magazines. “There's water in those if you want some.”
When the satellite phone was removed from the backpack, she took hold of it with her hand and ended the call with Slade.
“How did Deathstroke acquire such a sweet little pet?” She asked, the vines bringing you closer to her until she was only a few feet away.
“He's my friend. I'm not his. . .pet.”
“Oh? Is he your pet then?”
“We're friends.” The satellite phone flashed up with an incoming call but she ended it before it went through to your earpieces.
“Hmm. You fly, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that all you can do?”
“I can manipulate air and. . .” you trailed off. If there was one person that might understand your connection to the winds, it would be her. “The winds are my friends.”
“The winds?”
“Yeah. They protect me, like your children protect you.”
“Demonstrate.” You pushed a strong gust of air through the trees, the leaves and plants rustling loudly in its wake. It wasn't exactly demonstrating their protection, to do that you'd have to put yourself in harms way and you'd promised Slade you wouldn't do that. Dr. Isley continued when you stilled the air, seemingly convinced by the demonstration. “Is Deathstroke aware of this?”
“He. . .thinks they're just in my head.”
“And you call him your friend?” She sneered, her words making your heart ache. You didn't know what to say to that. When Slade called again, she answered it and the earpieces beeped. “Fascinating little pet you have here. They will bring me to you.”
She let the vines pull the phone away from her before he could say anything in response.
“Kid?”
“I'm here, I'm okay. I'll see you in a bit.” The vines returned everything to the backpack before putting it on you and handing you the helmet. The gear you'd put on her was still being held up by the vines. “I can get you there faster if you put the gear back on.” Dr. Isley seemed particularly displeased but acquiesced and the plants around her donned her body with all of the gear.
Thick branches wrapped around her body over the suit. Would they survive at high altitude in the extreme cold? You pulled out the collapsible duffel bag you kept in the backpack, wondering whether it could be filled with earth so the plants would be more likely to survive the journey. You could then keep a bubble of air around her to protect her from the cold air.
“I can fill this with earth and you can carry it on your back while we're in the air,” you offered and she leaned towards you.
“So accommodating,” she murmured, her gloved hand coming up to your face, the plants stopping you from shifting away. Before she could touch your chin, you formed a buffer of air to stop her. She manoeuvred the plants around you and shifted you backwards so she could inspect the scars that weren't covered by the neck piece. “Even when damaged.”
She then released you and the vines unwrapped themselves from your body, your boots now touched the ground. The plants took the duffel bag and immediately filled it with earth and roots before placing it on her back. Some of the branches on her body moved into the bag's opening, right into the soil.
With your helmet back on, you connected her up to the rebreather even if she might not need it and then turned to strap her onto your harness. One of her legs wrapped around you, her hands running down your sides as the branches came around your torso.
“My. . .isn't this cosy?” She commented with a flirtatious tone. Her profile noted that seduction was one of her abilities, you wouldn't take it personally. You pushed the air under your boot and slowly lifted up through the trees, the plants and vines were touching Dr. Isley like they didn't want her to leave. With the cloud cover brought down, you were now above the trees and she waved her children away.
You formed a bubble of air around her as you launched up into the air and flew at 14,000 feet and well under Mach 2 to keep her comfortable. It took less than an hour to reach the rendezvous point which was a gas station off a highway in Arizona. You told Slade you were on approach and he directed you to land inside the back of a semi-truck. After putting the fog around your bodies, you set down with Dr. Isley and Slade closed up the door.
Inside was a makeshift medical room with Dr. Villain at the other end sitting next to Dr. Quinzel who was lying on a hospital bed. You waved at him after unstrapping Dr. Isley from your harness and he held up his hand in response. She immediately headed past you, the branches and vines from the duffel bag of soil stripping her of the gear before carrying her to the other end of the truck.
“Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. . .it's Pam,” Dr. Quinzel half-sang, her voice sounding weak.
“Harley.” Dr. Isley didn't seem to glance at Dr. Villain while he ducked under some vines and he started packing away his equipment.
“I'm so so sore, Red. You're gonna have to kiss me all better or I won't make it.”
“You need some life-giving care, hmm?” Dr. Quinzel began giggling as Dr. Isley laid down on top of her, the vines pulling the bed sheet away and stripping the hospital gown off her body. They both moaned as they started loudly kissing and groping each other. You turned away from them to face the door, seeing that Slade continued to watch them.
“Stop being a perv,” you told him off gently.
“They're the ones going at it right in front of us.”
“Dr. Quinzel's just had surgery, she can't be moved.”
“Are you sure about that, kid?” You could sense the vines moving her through the air. Was she. . .was she doing the splits? And Dr. Isley was-
You concentrated on Dr. Villain as he was putting on the stealth suit, sensing how he casually dodged out of the way of the vines moving through the air like it was an every day occurrence. You then addressed Slade privately, thinning out the air around you.
“Dr. Isley has a cause, I understand that, but Dr. Quinzel? I'm pretty sure she's killed just for fun.”
“She was the clown's little puppet, dancing to his tune. Isley's a better influence on her.”
“If she kills innocent people. . .they would have died because of me. I can't let that happen.”
“Now is not the time for a moral panic. You wanted to free them so they can't be used as weapons anymore.”
“I know.”
“Are you going to take responsibility for all those prisoners you set free too? For every bad decision they make for the rest of their lives?” You couldn't. . .you couldn't bear that much responsibility on your shoulders. How were you supposed to function? You'd made the right choice freeing those people, what they did now was their decision, you had to let that go. But Dr. Quinzel was a much greater threat than those people.
“This is different.”
“The scale is different, the situation is not.” Dr. Villain had everything on except for the helmet as he approached you and Slade.
You asked him for an update on Dr. Quinzel's condition, he confirmed that she was doing very well. His tone was somewhat sarcastic as he glanced over at her with an unamused expression on his face. He explained that she appeared to be healing slightly faster than normal humans so she'd recover fully in less than a week at this rate. You brought down the cloud cover, obscuring the back of the semi-truck with fog.
“I need to speak to them before we leave so you can both wait outside,” you explained to Slade and Dr. Villain.
“I'm not leaving you alone with them,” Slade told you firmly.
“You think I can't handle them both?”
“Just because you can doesn't mean that you should.” There was something familiar about his words, had you said something like that to him before? You acquiesced with a nod and Dr. Villain headed out. The noises Dr. Isley and Dr. Quinzel were making had toned down considerably. Closing your eyes as you approached the bed, you reached out to one of the vines and gently tapped on it a few times.
“So keen to join us?” Dr. Isley murmured seductively. Vines were hovering in front of both yourself and Slade like they were about to wrap around your bodies. You formed a small buffer of air in front of them both to keep them from getting any closer.
“No, we're not joining you,” you replied, opening your eyes and looking at the two of them on the bed, they were both comfortably wrapped around each other. “We're leaving in a moment, but first there are some things that you need to know.” They were both looking at you now, their full attention on you though Dr. Isley seemed far more interested in what you had to say.
“You understand what I am, don't you?” You addressed Dr. Isley and you couldn't gauge anything from her expression.
“Yes, little human.”
“Good. Then understand that if either of you kill innocent people, I will find you and I will put you both down.” Dr. Isley glanced over at Slade.
“I thought you was supposed to be the nice one?” Dr. Quinzel whined loudly, clearly not giving much credence to your words. You focused on Dr. Isley, she would put Dr. Quinzel in line.
“I've killed children before. I don't want to kill your children, but I will if I am forced to. Do you understand?” Rage descended across her features and you stood firm, unmoved by it. Dr. Quinzel turned to Dr. Isley, her expression was part-confusion part-concern. Slade's body tensed beside you like he was expecting an imminent attack, the vines hovering in the air had stilled.
There was no need for a show of force on your part, she knew who your friends were, she understood what you were. You simply waited. Dr. Isley's features gradually turned impassive and she slowly nodded.
“I will keep this one out of trouble,” she responded somewhat quietly.
“Thank you,” you replied to her in earnest, you gestured to the case by the bed. “There are some supplies in there, water, food, money, clothes and medication. There's a satellite phone in there as well. Call me if they find you, I'll get you out.”
“Of course.”
“You got some strawberry vines in there?” Dr. Quinzel asked, her tone jovial and curious like you hadn't just threatened to end them both if they didn't comply with your order.
“Uhh. . .no.”
“Not even some blueberry ones?” She sounded practically heartbroken.
“No. . .sorry.”
“How am I supposed to recover with no candy?”
“There's some chocolate.” She squinted her eyes at you cautiously.
“What kind are you talking here?” You opened up the case and found a bar of chocolate, handing it to one of the vines that then passed it to Dr. Quinzel. “What am I supposed to do with this fancy European crap?”
“It's good.”
“We're leaving,” Slade announced, taking you by the arm and beginning to pull you to the door. “You heard the kid.”
“Bring vines next time, you hear!” Dr. Quinzel called out to you.
“Okay, bye.”
“Farewell, Seraph.”
- - -
After flying Dr. Villain back to New Jersey, you headed back to the bunker with Slade. Showered, changed and sitting in the server room, you recounted freeing Dr. Isley from the containment cell and throwing that monster off the jet.
“I felt the shock wave from its head exploding. Then I flew two liquid nitrogen cylinders to the body before popping them both and I felt the pieces fall to the ground.”
“What did you feel in that moment?”
“Uhh. . .” You weren't exactly sure how to describe it.
“Glee?”
“No.”
“Satisfaction?”
“I guess.”
“What were you thinking at the time?”
“That I did what needed to be done, and that it couldn't hurt anymore children.”
“Did you feel that killing Weasel was necessary?”
“Definitely.”
“Was killing him part of your mission parameters?”
“No.”
“So why did you do it?” His tone had shifted, he was grilling you now.
“I couldn't allow that monster to live.”
“I have told you before, explicitly, to not deviate from the plan,” he scolded you, almost sounding angry.
“I know.”
“You assured me that you understood that.”
“I did. I do, I-”
“Clearly you do not.”
“That animal ate children,” you countered, not understanding why he kept pressing this, why he was beginning to seem incensed.
“That's irrelevant.”
“No it's not, it's why I killed it. How was I supposed to sleep at night if I allowed that piece of shit to live?”
“You allowed your emotions to cloud your judgement then?” You blinked at him incredulously for a few moments, anger rising in your chest.
“Are you really going to try and fucking convince me that I did the wrong thing by killing that monster?”
“Kid.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you-”
“Kid!” He raised his voice to cut you off and continued in a calm, albeit irritated, tone. “The issue is not that you killed him, it's that you didn't tell me before you did it. The situation was not critical. You had ample time to inform me of your intention and to allow for the possible risks of your actions to be fully considered as it pertained to ensuring mission success and guaranteeing your safety.”
“Oh.” You awkwardly glanced away from him, somewhat embarrassed that you'd misread him so badly. He continued when you were looking at him again.
“Next time, if you wish to deviate from the plan, you will inform me immediately. Unsanctioned killings can lead to insurmountable consequences. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yeah. I understand.”
“You are not killing anyone else without my go ahead,” he told you resolutely, his voice then softened. “I need you to promise me that, kid.”
A/N - Thank you for reading! Are you feeling less violent now towards Slade? Come on, he's doing better right??? Hahahaha. How are you feeling about Joey kissing you? Did you enjoy Ivy and Harley?
I'm trying getting into the swing of writing every day so the next chapter will come out sooner hopefully. Thank you for sticking with me, I really appreciate your support. 😊😊😊
Soundtrack Timings:
BRODYAGA SYNTH by VXLLAIN & Eternxlkz
Air raid sirens - 1.17
Launch of missile waves - 1.35
First strafing run - 1.54
Second strafing run - 2.04
Fighter destroyed - 2.13
Hi, I’m pretty new to tumblr so this is my first time ever sending in an ask. I’ve been reading His Weapon since the beginning and actually ended up making a tumblr account just to read more of your stuff. The way you flesh out complicated characters is so immersive and impressive. I honestly accept everything you write as canon lol.
Anyways, I wanted to send this for reasons unrelated to His Weapon. You mentioned previously that you weren’t doing well so I wanted to check in and make sure you’re doing ok. I’m really glad you’re taking time to yourself and I wanted to let you know that there’s people out there rooting for you. I know people get caught up in internet stuff and forget that there’s real people behind the screen. How are you?
Hi there anon 🪲. Thankya for letting me pop your anon cherry hehe, and thank you, that's awesome you enjoy my writing. I'm really glad you enjoy it, that's sweet of you.
Uhh. . .it's been a tough few months hahaha, I'm slowly getting back on track though I think, I'm not totally sure. I can't fucking wait for summer to be finally over let me tell you.
I'm also planning on publishing chapter eighteen tomorrow for yall. I'd prefer to keep more of a buffer of completed chapters but I don't want to delay any further. These coming chapters. . .urgh they're so fucking good. The horn needs to be tooted sometimes hahaha.
I've popped a sad looking stocktake down below and yeah we're reaching the end of part two and it's gona be a fucking ride so strap in.
1 - how do you think Slade would go about it if reader asked him to do intox stuff
2 - same but about like primal/pet/animalistic idk broad terms play
from 🦊
Hey there 🦊!!! Ooh intox stuff. . .I think that Slade would be very adverse to it because he wants to be the cause of your pleasure, he wants to be in total control of it. If you're getting high then that's not him in control, the drugs are enhancing your pleasure when he should be doing that. Also if you're getting high, it's going to ruin when you're sober because the highs will never be as high. So basically. . .fuck no hahahaha.
He'd be into any kinda primal/pet/animal type play. Slade would love an obedient, devoted little pet. He'd take it as far as you want it to. You want the full fantasy? He'll have you in a cage, you'll have a tail up your ass, you'll be eating out of bowls like a dog, he'll pull you onto his lap and fuss you, brush your hair. He'd also do the reverse and be your devoted little pet.
Slade really would be into anything as long as he's in control of giving you pleasure, whether that's as a dom or a sub, whether he's in a fur suit or bollock naked. He'd love to go full feral and hunt you down and fuck you like an animal. He just wants to get you off.
Artwork: Slade x Reader & Reader's Suit & Slade x Reader + Meme by @mellosdrawings Comic Reader + Slade x Reader by @void-fluff
Chapters: One ⇒ Two ⇒ Three ⇒ Four ⇒ Five ⇒ Six ⇒ Seven ⇒ Eight ⇒ Nine ⇒ Ten ⇒ Eleven ⇒ Twelve ⇒ Thirteen ⇒ Fourteen ⇒ Fifteen ⇒ Sixteen ⇒ Read on AO3
˚✮⋆.🎧.⋆✮˚ Soundtrack ˚✮⋆.🎧.⋆✮˚
First two songs of Angelcore mix (Drain by plaguedoll & bulletrain and worry by LONOWN & riserayss) [Noted in chapter]
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Chapter Seventeen [Word Count 9.8k]
You never would have thought that you'd be grateful being back underground, but when you returned to the bunker that's exactly what you felt.
You were. . .you were home.
It felt like you'd been away for much longer than three weeks. You felt safe here, you didn't need to have your guard up all the time. A weight had lifted from your shoulders.
Two days had passed since you'd left Caracas and flown Slade back with all of his gear. You'd caught up on more sleep and the next morning Slade had debriefed you on the breakout and your time at the camp. In the afternoon, you were on a truncated schedule, completing combat training with Slade and navigation before dinner and then language training after that. The next day you were back on a full schedule.
Things with Slade weren't awkward but they weren't comfortable either. He wasn't angry like he'd been before, he wasn't berating you for making a small mistake, he treated you like normal. You sensed this tension on him though, brimming right under the surface, unquantifiable yet tangible. Was he still upset with you? After what happened with Joey?
Had you misinterpreted him making you believe Tovar was going to die and getting you to free those prisoners as a fucked up apology? Had it actually been punishment? With training done for the day, you headed out of the living room and into the infirmary to take the day's antidepressant. You had almost finished the month's supply and you'd be visiting Dr. Villain tomorrow for a refill and a health check.
When you'd swallowed the pill, you walked into the corridor and Slade suddenly called out for you. Your body almost stuttered to a complete stop, mind recalling with painful clarity the last time he'd called you into the security room and the fight that had followed. Reminding yourself that he didn't sound angry, you went inside where he was sitting at the desk. A metal case was positioned on the floor beside him and you sat down when he gestured to it.
“I have something for you,” he murmured, handing you his phone. As you hesitantly took it from him, you looked down and saw. . .it was a photo of Kon. He was grinning at the camera, the smile reaching his bright blue eyes. He wore a black t-shirt and his hair had grown, though it had been shaved at the sides. He seemed. . .happy. Your chest ached with warmth, eyes welling with tears at the sight of him.
“The boy looks happy, doesn't he?” Slade commented.
“Yeah,” you whispered, managing to hold in your emotion. “How did you. . .?”
“A favour.” You raised an eyebrow, knowing that his favours were more than meets the eye. Taking in the photo again, you wondered at the efforts he'd gone to to get this. It must have been through Nightwing, maybe Rose? This was him trying to clear the air with you, wasn't it? An apology in actions rather than words. Was he trying to make things right with you? Did he not really mean what he'd said?
The problem was that Slade was exceptionally skilled at damaging people, the things he'd call you, pathetic, stupid, lonely, they weren't lies. He was no holds barred, going for the jugular was where he began, not where he ended. He'd weaponised the truth against you because that's what would hurt you the most.
For someone who excelled at killing people and had 'the Terminator' as a nickname, for someone who had been turned into the perfect soldier, he could be. . .inept. Unable to think past his anger, incapable of truly admitting fault, failing to realise that his perception was marred, hurting people when he was trying to help, retaliating against those he believed harmed his family without thought and with extreme aggression.
Apologising to you by manipulating you, having people lie to you, making you believe Tovar was going to be executed because of you. Was it like what Joey had said before? That Slade's heart was in the right place? Even if that was expressed in the most fucked up ways?
Or was he simply placating you? Is that was this really was? Him getting that photo of Kon because he wanted to get himself back in your good graces so that you would continue being his compliant weapon?
“Thank you,” you told him, handing his phone back after a final look. “Can you. . .”
“I'll send it to you.” With a nod, you made yourself give him a small smile. You couldn't discern anything from his expression. You sat with him in silence for a few moments, the air between you continued to be filled with tension. Were you really home? You didn't feel. . .welcome. Did you really belong here? Not able to stand it any longer, you bade him goodnight and left the security room. Somehow you felt worse leaving than you had going in.
- - -
Slade had been watching you intently during breakfast and lunch the next day. You weren't eating quickly, you'd fallen out of that habit. You thought he'd be pleased considering his initial annoyance of it, but now it seemed like he wasn't pleased. He probably had a lot on his mind and you were incorrectly making it all about you.
Before you flew to New Jersey, you went to Vermont as Slade said Billy wanted to see you. While you were having tea with him, you recounted your time at the camp and the subsequent prison breakout.
“It appears that freeing people is becoming your forte,” Billy remarked with a smile on his face. Slade must have told him about Kon because you hadn't.
“Uhh. . .I guess.”
“And how are things between you and Slade?”
“They're fine.”
“After what passed between you?”
“He told you about that?”
“He did. I was most pleased that you were able to give as good as you get. He can be a real bastard when he wants to be.”
“Yeah. . .he can,” you muttered, trying not to think about how much his words had hurt and angered you.
“So?” Billy prompted gently.
“Things are. . .fine.”
“He's not acting untoward?”
“No.” Not anymore at least. “How's Joey?”
“He's doing better. Adeline's been a friend to him as well as a mother so it was difficult for him.”
“Is he still with Rose?”
“Yes and he's started a new role in Blüdhaven. That was Slade's doing and Joseph is aware that his father owns the company he now works for. Normally Joseph would have protested against such nepotism. After all he had to work his way up his mother's company. She made it a smooth ride of course but he paid his dues. At the moment he wishes to keep himself occupied and I encouraged him to take the position on a temporary basis so he can find his footing.”
“He likes it there?”
“He's enjoying the routine and his colleagues have been very welcoming.” You nodded at him and had a sip of tea. “I don't suppose Slade's told you but Joseph visited Dr. Villain quite a few weeks ago now on account of his migraines. They're not being caused by a physical ailment, instead it appears to be a mental one. Joseph now regularly meets with a psychiatrist that's been fully vetted by the Titans and the Martian Manhunter himself no less. And Slade, though that's by the by.
“Joseph is exploring taking antidepressant mediation as well and mentioned to me that you'd been very open in discussing the medication that you're taking.”
“I. . .mentioned it.”
“I believe that you helped to encourage him to look into them. Not explicitly, you made it a possibility for him.” You didn't know how to respond, you'd only mentioned the antidepressants because Joey had asked why you had painkillers from Dr. Villain.
It wasn't long before Billy was waving you off from the back porch and you were heading east to New Jersey. The health check went all fine, Dr. Villain was meticulous and professional as he always was. You liked being in his company, you understood what he expected of you. On the way back to the bunker, Rose texted you, she was inviting you to go to a club in New York with her and Joey tomorrow night. You replied to her text when you landed at the safehouse, apologising and saying that you couldn't make it because you had training.
It wasn't a lie but it wasn't exactly the truth either. It would be best if you stayed away from them, you'd caused enough trouble as it was. What Billy had told you as well only highlighted how much of an effect your words had. They weren't your family, or your friends. Billy was. . .was he your friend? Or just someone that spoke with you as a favour to Slade? You weren't really sure.
With Rose and Joey though, they definitely weren't your friends. You didn't need to be their friends in order to protect them and that's ultimately what Slade wanted. You didn't want to say the wrong thing again to his children and end up hurting them and him too. After pushing the air into the hole above the door frame and disarming the fail safes, you were about to unlock the back door with your key when the earpieces beeped as a call came through.
“What do you mean no?” Rose asked without a greeting.
“Hey uhh. . .I have training. I hope you and Joey have a great time though.”
“What time do you start?”
“What?”
“What time do you start training?”
“Five.”
“When do you finish?”
“Eight.”
“In the morning?”
“8pm.”
“You train for fifteen hours a day?!”
“Well. . .that includes meals so. . .”
“You train for fifteen hours a day and you can't possibly spare a couple to celebrate?”
“Tomorrow's Sunday so I don't train for-”
“Come on, S! You freed like two hundred people from a gulag, we need to celebrate, it'll be fun! When was the last time you had a day off?"
“Uhh. . .”
“Slade hasn't given you a day off?” She was starting to sound angry.
“I need to train, Rose. There are people that are trying to find me.”
“So you didn't go to that club in Berlin then?”
“Well. . .I. . .” you trailed off, you didn't know what to say.
“You're a shitty liar, S. We'll meet you behind the club at eleven thirty.”
“Rose, I'm not-” The line went dead, she'd hung up on you. With a frown, you opened up the back door and started texting her to make it clear that you couldn't make it and ended the message with another apology. You knew you were doing the right thing, this would be better for everyone. Rose and Joey both had lots of friends who they could ask to go with them. They weren't losing anything in your absence.
Later that evening, you were sitting at the wooden desk halfway through profile learning when Slade came into the living room. Your stomach rolled seeing the anger on his expression.
“You stood up my children?” He half-accused, half-questioned. You looked up at him without a clue as to how to respond. Surely he. . .wanted you to stay away from them? After you had blabbed your mouth and hurt Joey? Why was he acting like you did something wrong? You didn't understand.
“Rose is upset, she thinks I'm not allowing you to see them and Joey is threatening to have the Titans start hunting my ass. Why did you say no?”
“I. . .” Was he testing you? Is that what this was? He wanted you to do the right thing even in the face of his rage? He needed to see you hold firm and refuse to see his children despite the fact he was acting like he wanted the opposite? He would teach you this lesson until it was irrefutable, wouldn't he? They weren't your family. You didn't have a family. You didn't have anyone. “I have. . .training.”
“You have personal time, don't you? You said it yourself you can go wherever the fuck you want, and you did exactly that before, so what is the problem?” You couldn't swallow down the growing lump in your throat. Maybe this wasn't a test. Then again he liked to make things seem as real as possible in order to gauge your true reaction.
“I don't think it's a good idea,” you replied quietly, lowering your head and hoping that would be sufficient for him.
“You'll be in disguise and Rose and Joey are getting a ride from a speedster. There's nothing to be concerned about, alright?” Slade's tone had softened, it was like he was genuinely trying to convince you to go and see them. What were you supposed to say? “Go and tell my girl before she finishes plotting to skewer my eye.” You stared at the floor, your mind went blank.
“Kid. Kid, look at me.” Slade's face filled your vision, he was crouched down by you. You forced yourself to comply otherwise he'd be more upset. You had to look at him when he was talking to you. “Tell me what's going on.”
“I don't want to cause anymore problems,” you muttered, desperately hoping that he'd stop, that the test would be over.
“You're not going to cause any problems,” he replied gently, how could he seem so sincere? “If you really don't want to go, I'll tell them but you have to tell me why.” He wasn't going to stop until you told him explicitly, until he knew that you had learnt your lesson. Your heart was aching profusely.
“They're your family, not mine. I understand that. I'll stay away from them unless you want me to protect them. Can you. . .stop testing me like this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Please. . .don't pretend. I. . .I'll get confused and I won't know what's real so. . .don't test me like this.”
“Kid. I swear that I'm not testing you right now.” You blinked at him in confusion. He was. . .he was giving you his word, he really meant it, didn't he?
“You. . .you swear?”
“I swear to you,” he promised, taking hold of your hand and firmly squeezing it. He wasn't. . .testing you? He was upset you'd declined Rose's invitation? Why would he be upset? You thought that's what he wanted. You'd hurt his children, why would he want you to be near them again?
“I don't. . . understand.”
“Can you explain to me why you don't want to go?”
“I. . .thought you didn't want me to.”
“Why did you think that?”
“Because I've hurt them.”
“You didn't mean to.”
“So? I still hurt them.”
“Kid, I. . .I forgive you, alright? I know you would never intentionally hurt them. You like Rose and Joey, don't you?”
“Yeah.”
“And do you want to see them tomorrow night?”
“Well. . .”
“Do you personally want to?”
“Yeah.”
“You can let Rose know that you'll see them tomorrow then.”
“You want me to go?”
“Yes, you've earned some R & R and they want to see you.”
“But what if I say the wrong thing again?”
“Promise me you won't intentionally hurt my children.”
“I swear to you, Slade.”
“Good.” He spoke again before you could reply. “And before you ask, yes I'm sure.” You pressed your lips together, he'd already known what you were going to ask. He raised your hand that he was holding and pressed a kiss against your knuckles, his facial hair grazing over your skin. You frowned at him for trying to placate you with kisses.
“What? This worked so well last time,” he teased playfully, a smirk pulling at his lips. He hadn't smirked at you since before the fight, all those weeks ago. He was trying to go back to how things were, he wanted to make amends with you, he was trying to clear the air.
All the doubt and confusion you'd felt attempting to understand his intentions, it was starting to become clear. Caracas, Tovar, the breakout, the photo of Kon, all of it was an apology. He really was trying.
As you settled down to sleep, you spent a good hour or two thinking over everything. He had seemed nervous in the Caracas safehouse. It couldn't have simply been because he knew you'd be upset, that wasn't enough of a justification. He'd come up with that poor excuse about there being lots of activity in their airspace because he'd wanted you to stay with him.
What would it have mattered if you'd slept at altitude? Why did he. . .did he think that you weren't going to come back? Did he think you'd be so angry that you'd leave him for good? After he manipulated you and lied to you? It explained his insistence for you to stay, it explained him holding your hand as you hovered in the living room, why his body had then relaxed. So why did he continue to be tense? Did he still think you'd leave? Was he clutching at straws trying to make things right with you? Incapable of simply apologising?
The next morning, your mind continued percolating with questions. You needed to understand exactly where Slade stood, you had to be sure.
“Why did you send me to the camp?” You asked him after you'd finished breakfast as he sat opposite you in the booth.
“For training,” he replied simply, your eyes narrowed at him.
“Slade.”
“They're do-gooders like you. It gave you a chance to socialise, train in a new environment and get real-world experience saving those prisoners. I knew it would do you good.”
“But you knew it wouldn't all be good.”
“Yes.”
“Did you think I was going to back down and admit that I was in the wrong?”
“It was a possibility.”
“You know better now though, don't you?”
“I do.”
“So you're not going to try that shit with me again. Are you.”
“It'd be futile.”
“Are you, Slade,” you pressed, not giving him any room to manoeuvre.
“I won't, kid.”
“Swear to me.”
“I swear to you.” Realising you'd been leaning forwards over the table, you shifted away, satisfied that Slade now understood that he couldn't push you to his thinking when you knew you were in the right.
“At the safehouse in Caracas, why did you come up with that piss poor excuse about there being lots of activity in their airspace?”
“It wasn't an excuse, they-”
“It was a piss poor excuse,” you reiterated slowly. His expression hardened and he stared at you unblinking without giving a response. “Did you think I was going to leave for good?”
“Perhaps,” he murmured after a few seconds.
“Do you still think I'm going to leave? Is that why you're being weird?”
“I'm not being weird.”
“You are and you keep staring at me when I'm eating.”
“You don't seem to be enjoying my food.”
“I am, I just. . .don't have much of an appetite.”
“Hmm.”
“I don't plan on leaving. I want to stay here, I want to stay with you. Do you want me to stay here with you?” He kept looking at you for a long moment before he blinked at you. “Okay.”
Standing up from the booth and stepping round to him, he took your hand when you reached out, his skin was so soft and warm.
“I guess it's your turn to interrogate me,” you joked, referring to the imminent check up he was about to give you. He raised an eyebrow, there was nothing but promise in his eye.
- - -
Rose and Joey hadn't arrived when you landed on the roof of a residential building less than a block from the club. It was several minutes before eleven thirty, time to take off the pony bottle and the suit, switch the boots for some shoes and put the wig on. With everything packed away, you armed the backpack and hid it in a ventilation shaft. You pulled down the cloud cover and dropped into the alleyway below, putting the small earpiece on. You barely made it a few steps when a call came through.
“They've just left, kid.”
“Okay,” you replied, heading out to the street.
“Keep them out of trouble.”
“I will.”
“If anything happens. . .”
“I'll call you and get them to the exfil point.”
“Good.”
“I'll see you in the morning.”
“Alright, kid.”
“Night, Slade.”
As you were approaching the back of the club, you sensed something extremely fast decelerating rapidly and then you could feel three people in the alleyway by the dumpsters. It was Rose, Joey and the speedster. Before you made it there, the speedster zipped away and you could feel the disturbance they'd left in the air for a good mile or so.
It was difficult to sense further with all the buildings and cars and people. If they were flying through the air you would have sensed them hundreds of miles away considering the speed they were moving.
“Hey S!” Rose called out as you approached, she was taking off the top part of her Ikon suit and Joey was doing the same, they both had clothes on underneath. The suits would have protected them while they travelled at such immense speeds.
You waved and saluted at them and had to avert your eyes when Rose stripped off the bottom part of the blue suit until she was down to her underwear.
“I bet you don't look away when Dad's walking around butt naked,” she teased and you couldn't bring yourself to respond or you'd end up embarrassing yourself no doubt. “Done.”
“Joey's not,” you replied, sensing that Joey had taken off the rest of his suit too as you were looking at the faded green paint peeling off the dumpster.
“Ooh you can tell?”
“Yeah.”
“What am I doing right now?” You shifted the air around her, she was standing still, arms were at her sides and you felt a protrusion coming out of her lower face.
“You're. . .sticking your tongue out at me.”
“And now?”
“The same. . .but less.” Rose giggled and you turned around when Joey was ready. They both looked very fashionable, they looked like models really. Rose had a purse with her which presumably had both of the suits in.
Joey held up his arm at his side, elbow facing down and clenching his fist as he signed S. You held out your little finger, moving it in the shape of the letter 'j' as you signed back J to him. Rose came up to you and started adjusting your wig a little.
“I knew Dad would see things our way,” she remarked as she fluffed up some of the wig's fringe.
Can I borrow your phone? Joey signed and you handed it over to him after unlocking it.
“He wanted me to see you both,” you replied, Rose's hand fell away from your face.
“What? So you didn't want to come?”
“I. . .last time I saw you both, I upset you and I. . .didn't want that to happen again.”
“It's not like it was your fault.”
“I know. I just. . . want you to both understand that Slade doesn't allow me or not allow me to do things. It doesn't work like that between us. I. . .couldn't make any choices for a long time and they're very important to me. No one is going to take them away again. So you don't need to. . .hunt his ass.”
“Can you hear me?” You heard Joey through the earpiece and you knocked twice with your fist in response. You tucked the phone back into your pocket when he handed it to you.
“If Dad becomes a problem, just let us or Uncle Billy know and we'll put him in check. Okay?” Rose told you firmly.
“That's not necessary, I'll handle him. If it came to that.”
“You can handle Pop?” Joey wanted to clarify. They were both looking at you incredulously, they didn't seem to believe you at all.
“Yeah,” you responded plainly.
“Do you know how many people on this planet can confidently say they can handle Deathstroke?” Rose asked, the question sounding partly rhetorical, but you answered it normally regardless.
“The Justice League, well. . .some of them.”
“Oh my god, S!” Rose started laughing while Joey was shaking his head at you in disbelief and his expression shifted like he was impressed.
“What?”
“I get why Uncle Billy said there's nothing for us to worry about. Come on.” Rose took you by the arm and you walked with her and Joey to the front of the club, the bass of the music getting louder. The queue was maybe ten people deep, but Rose skipped it entirely and let go of you as she chatted to the bouncer.
Rather than appearing to be scared, like what happened in Berlin, the bouncer laughed and waved her, you and Joey through. After paying the entrance fee and getting a stamp on the back of your hand, you headed into the club behind Rose and Joey. The bass of the music was loud and infectious, and the club looked pretty packed.
Rose took hold of Joey's elbow and made a beeline for the bar. You followed behind them and thinned out the air when Rose turned to you to hear her better.
“I'm getting a. . .” she trailed off, her voice wasn't as loud when she continued. “Huh that's handy, I forgot about that. I'm getting a Moonrise Deluxe, do you want one?”
“Does that have alcohol in? Because I can't drink.”
“If you mention some bullshit about training-”
“S is on medication,” Joey jumped in, giving her a pointed look.
“Not just for one night?” Rose asked and you shook your head at her. “How about a virgin one then?”
“Sure, thanks.”
“Wait. . .if you're not drinking, we should get shots!” Joey rolled his eyes at her and she excitedly flagged down the bartender.
She's going to. . .
You couldn't quite make out what he was signing. His hand was in a fist, thumb sticking out as his hand moved over the bottom half of his face and then went down, that meant drunk. The rest you weren't really sure. You shifted the thinned out air so Rose wouldn't hear.
“Uhh. . .does that mean shitfaced?” He smiled and nodded at you.
Do you mind not drinking?
“No, it's okay. I also don't want to displease Dr. Villain. He's been. . .really good to me.” He'd been supportive during the antipsychotics trial. It seemed like that happened only a few days ago, you pushed the thought of it aside.
Rose pulled Joey closer as the bartender was pouring out four shots. They downed two each in quick succession, both of them wincing slightly at the strength of whatever alcohol they were drinking. The bartender poured out the two Moonrise Deluxes which were dark blue and then a red-coloured cocktail which was for Joey. You took your drink and walked behind Rose and Joey to an empty table not too far from the dance floor.
As you sat down, you realised that your drink was twinkling under the flashing lights, was there glitter in this? The three of you clinked your glasses with a cheers and you took a sip, it was just the right amount of sweet. You chatted with them for a bit, catching up with them while you enjoyed the cocktail. Joey had patrolled Blüdhaven with Rose and Nightwing several times now.
“So you're settling in okay?” You asked Joey.
“Yeah I am. The weather's not as nice but it's better than I thought it'd be.”
“Urgh, you're gonna like complain non-stop in the winter. As soon as the leaves start falling, I'm shipping you back to smog city,” Rose teased him, drinking more of her cocktail through a straw.
“The smog smells better than wet rot," Joey countered as he pursed his lips.
“It's part of Blüd's charm, its maritime heritage spanning centuries.”
“Slaughtering whales is maritime heritage now?”
“At least it's not filled with fake plastic Hollywood wannabes trying to crawl their way to the top. Blüd doesn't have a top, it's a mostly flat shitheap.”
“It can be quite an endearing shitheap when you're sitting on it.”
“Aww Joey, really?”
“From a. . .very specific angle.”
“Hey! I look good from every angle!” Joey grimaced in disgust and shook his head. “Most! Most okay! I'm going to the bathroom, byeee.”
Joey grinned as Rose quickly stalked off, you could feel her moving through the crowd.
“I'm glad you're enjoying the. . .shitheap,” you remarked to him.
“It's been really fun spending more time with her. She loves it when I get her ready if she has to dance at the club. I've been roped into being her personal make-up artist and her hair stylist even though I'm not as good as her. She loves being pampered.”
“Have you been with her to the club?”
“Backstage yeah. I've met the dancers there too, they're nice.” You didn't reply as it looked as though Joey hadn't finished, he also looked a bit nervous. “Rose mentioned that you. . .like some of the dancers there? Johnny and Cherry I think?”
“They're both great.”
“So you're. . .into both of them?”
“I'm bi so, yeah.”
“Oh.”
“How about you? If you don't mind me asking.”
“Umm. . .well I like girls. . .and umm. . .I like. . .guys too, so I guess I'm. . .umm. . .” He looked like he was really struggling so you tried your best to reassure him.
“Labels are optional, not a requirement. It's whatever feels right to you, in your own time. Thanks for telling me.” You were glad that the nerves seemed to fade from his expression. “Do you want to dance when Rose gets back?”
He raised his index finger to his mouth before moving it away from him.
“How do you sign bisexual by the way?” He held up four fingers on one hand as they were pressed together with his thumb tucked over his palm and then held up just his pinky finger. It was simply signing the letter 'b' and the letter 'i' in sequence.
“I suppose I should have guessed that,” you joked and he gave you a small smile. When Rose came back, you all finished up your drinks and headed to the dance floor, you formed a little circle with her and Joey as you danced with them.
You were moving slow in time with the song and you sped up as the beat hit. Rose's dancing was this eclectic mix of smooth, fluid movements and then her just letting loose with the music. She spun her hands in the air, each hand imitating the other perfectly, it was mesmerising to watch. Joey didn't have Rose's fluidity. His movements effortlessly matched with the rhythm and the tempo of the song, inhabiting its mood with ease. It was really fun dancing with both of them, just enjoying the music together.
The song transitioned to a new one, the bass got even louder, the beat was infectious and you were enthusiastically bouncing up and down, nodding your head in time with the beat. Rose was amused by how much you were into the song, but she was clearly enjoying it too, as was Joey.
Holding out your arms and closing your eyes while you were moving the rest of your body, you sensed out to the skies above, the winds were dancing too. You could feel the trailing vortices of wake turbulence from a plane just taking off several miles away, from another plane was coming in to land, three more were stacked behind it in the queue, miles apart from each other. There were planes landing and taking off at another airport further out, a helicopter was flying over Manhattan, someone was flying a drone over the Hudson, a flock of birds was heading south, you could feel all of it.
You started spinning your index fingers, matching the opposite spins of the vortices, feeling out from one plane to another. The bass felt so good reverberating around your chest, it made you feel whole, like the winds were spinning around your heart. You sensed out to the winds, thankful to feel them unhindered, grateful for their protection. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the winds. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Slade.
After you told Slade yesterday that you wanted to stay with him, the tension had finally dissipated between you. He was relieved, he wasn't worrying that you'd leave him. He cared about you, not like you did of course, that wouldn't be possible, but he did care. Because of him you'd freed over a hundred political prisoners, you'd truly made a difference.
When the song built up again, your movements slowed. All these people dancing around you was a stark reminder that you were free too. You weren't just surviving against your will anymore, you were living.
You couldn't help but smile.
- - -
When you'd made it back to the bunker, you created vacuum behind the blast door and the secondary door as you opened them and closed them back up, not wanting to disturb the little sleep that Slade got. With vacuum surrounding your body, you silently flew down the corridor, passing the closed bedroom door. You could feel Slade breathing as he lay in bed. Really you should have slept in the clouds, but you were keen to come home.
Another day of training began less than two hours later and with such little sleep you were somehow feeling rather energised during general physical training. You told Slade about your time with Rose and Joey, omitting how drunk they both ending up getting. Neither of them threw up or caused any problems. Rose did struggle getting her Ikon suit on and you had to do it for her after she complained.
“Come on, S!” Rose had whined loudly. “You've literally seen everything but my pussy and my asshole. Stop thinking about my dad for five fucking seconds and help me!”
You described to Slade that you'd waited around the corner for the speedster to arrive and Rose called shortly after to confirm they were back in Blüdhaven.
Throughout the rest of the morning, you noticed that something was off with Slade. He wasn't tense like he had been, you couldn't exactly pin point what it was. You were probably tired and misreading him. At lunch, Slade mentioned that he'd bought peaches the other day.
“They're nice and ripe now. I'll make you peach cobbler later, would you like that?”
“Yeah, sounds great.” He nodded in response and didn't say anything for a few moments.
“I used tinned peaches last time so this one should be better,” he spoke quietly. The last time he'd made you a peach cobbler was when you were on antipsychotics and he'd hand fed it to you. That was the final day of the trial. You'd been pissed off that he'd listened to your conversation with Dr. Villain after you told him you wanted privacy.
Looking back at it, was the peach cobbler his way of apologising to you for that? Is that why he was making you one now? Come to think of it, he cooked you an apple pie the first day you were back at the bunker after leaving Venezuela, the day after that he made cookies. Was this apology by dessert?
It was after language training when Slade called you into the kitchen, the smell was more glorious in here. You sat down in the booth as he slid the plate in front of you. Gesturing for you to tuck in, you obliged him and hummed in delight at the taste. You shoved in another mouthful while Slade was asking whether you liked it.
“Mmmhmm,” you replied, nodding at him too. You continued tucking into it and tapped on the table to signal for him to eat too rather than stand there and stare. He took his seat and cut himself a slice of the peach cobbler. He barely had a few bites before he was cutting off another piece for you.
You sat eating with him, the silence between you was comfortable. You'd really missed things being like this with him, it was such a relief. When you'd both finished, Slade didn't get up to take the plates over to the sink. He seemed to be inspecting what was left of the peach cobbler before he made eye contact with you. He was acting off again, you hadn't been misreading him at all, had you? Whatever he was going to say was something that had been on his mind all day.
“You were right before. The things I said to you were vicious and cruel. I shouldn't have said them,” he told you sincerely. You weren't going to get an outright apology from him, this was the next best bet, but you needed a little more. You spun your finger, directing him to keep going.
“I was being an asshole.” You spun your finger again.
“I was being an unreasonable asshole,” he corrected and you signalled for him to continue once more. “I was a. . .bastard and I acted unfairly to you.”
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
“You wanted to hurt me.”
“I did.”
“You are not doing that to me again,” you told him resolutely. “I know you were upset but you also knew that I never meant to hurt Joey. So next time you will control yourself. Do you understand?”
“I get it, kid.”
“If you do it again, I. . .I don't think I could stay with you anymore.”
“I understand.” You watched him for a while before you nodded. That had obviously been difficult for him to say, you hadn't been expecting it, especially not him admitting that he was at fault. He was trying so hard for you, he really was. Sliding out of the booth, you moved around the table until you were standing right by him.
“Are you going to wrestle me into a hug?” He joked, raising an eyebrow. You gently took hold of his face with both of your hands, feeling the stubble on his cheeks, his goatee on your palms, as you leaned down and pressed a soft kiss onto his forehead.
“No,” you muttered quietly as you pulled away but kept hold of his face. There was that look in his eye again, the one he had on the plane before you flew together, almost vulnerable.
“I forgive you,” you told him and he simply stared at you without any response. “Okay?” You prompted and he blinked at you. Running your fingers through his hair with both of your hands, you smiled at him and started tucking loose strands behind his ear.
When you pulled away, he took hold of one of your hands and kissed the back of it, his facial hair tickling at your skin again. Your smile widened even further.
“I want to show you something,” he murmured, keeping hold of your hand as he stood up from the booth and led you out of the kitchen. He guided you into the security room, setting you down in the chair and he sat on the case that was already positioned by it.
He brought up the designs of a new rebreather across multiple screens, explaining that this improved version will provide eighteen hours of air. Before you had the chance to thank him, he showed you more designs, this time of a new suit, helmet and boots. The new suit would look essentially the same, loose around the midsection so you could wear body armour underneath, the arms and legs wouldn't be as long as they would be tailored to your size rather than Slade's.
The suit would have an interwoven lead lining to protect you from the radiation of sub-orbital spaceflight.
“Sub-orbital?” You asked incredulously.
“I thought you liked going fast.”
“I do but that's. . .re-entry speeds. We're talking what. . .Mach 25?”
“Mach 25 plus.” You scoffed and shook your head in disbelief. “You can put vacuum around your body, can't you?”
“Yeah. . .”
“And what's stopping you from flying up to 400,000 feet?”
“Well. . .nothing. . .”
“Sub-orbital spaceflight,” he announced casually. He was right of course, you had the ability to fly up into the mesosphere, you wouldn't burn up on re-entry if you put vacuum around your body and the suit would protect you from radiation. Shit, were you really going to fly that fast?
He took you through the new design of the helmet, how the front would flip up, making it much easier to eat while you were in the air and saving you from taking the whole thing off. The glass visor has an adjustable tint and it will protect your eyes from direct sunlight while you were in the mesosphere, practically in space. The visor will also have a head-up display to show your speed, oxygen level and provide other information too.
The suit, helmet and the new boots would automatically darken in low light environments. The colours would go from mostly white, with greys and light blues, to mostly dark blue with faded blacks and dark greys.
Slade then brought up the proposed new aerial camoflauge design across the whole suit. You immediately grimaced at it and turned to Slade.
“Can't I have the same design?”
“This is an upgraded version that's been specifically designed for your suit.”
“But I want the one you did.” He looked at you for a moment and you saw his expression gradually lighten.
“Alright, kid,” he conceded and you grinned victoriously at him.
“You know I said I wasn't going to wrestle you into a hug. Well. . .” He rolled his eye at you and reluctantly shifted his body until he was facing you properly. You shot forwards, almost coming off the chair as you wrapped your arms around him.
“Thank you,” you mumbled against him. You grinned with joy and squeezed even more when you felt his arms around your shoulders. He was actually hugging you. Closing your eyes, you tried to memorise how good this felt, how warm his body was, how gratifying it felt that he was holding you when you weren't having a mental breakdown. He smelled so good, you couldn't help but breathe him in deeply.
You let go of him when his arms came away from you and after turning your head to face the screens, you pointed at your cheek.
“Placate me.”
“Kid,” he murmured, sounding put out, like you'd already pushed it far enough with the hug.
“You started this, it's your own fault,” you reminded him, tapping your cheek a couple more times to hurry him along.
“Hmm,” he grumbled in irritation, but he still complied and leaned forwards. Instead of giving you a quick peck, he hovered right by your face for a few seconds, his breath was hot and it almost made you shiver. He softly kissed your cheek, your heart lurched pleasantly at him being close like this. The sensation of his lips and his facial hair against your skin felt good to say the least.
“Satisfied?” He asked when he shifted back, you pondered the question for a moment.
“For now.” You couldn't help but tease. He tried to look annoyed but you glimpsed at the amusement he was trying to hold back.
“I have another job if you're interested.”
“For me or for us?”
“Us.”
- - -
You had taken his insults to heart, he knew that. He had, however, underestimated how deeply they had affected you. It was to the point you believed he was testing you about them, you thought he wanted to be certain that you had taken his word as gospel.
When he'd said those things to you, he'd been too angry, too upset to care about the consequences. He'd failed to maintain control. After you had made him swear that he wouldn't do that to you again, you had gauged that he didn't want you to leave, such was the obscene obviousness of his desire to keep you and reassert control over your dynamic with him.
You told Slade that you'd stay with him though he hadn't apologised to you and he hadn't truly conceded. He'd been preparing multiple options and justifications for you to stay with him and you'd rendered them all obsolete because he was the reason you wanted to stay.
The extent of your devotion to Slade continued to bewilder and unsettle him. Regardless of the fact you had said you'd forgive him in those unsent messages on your phone, he'd still been taken back when you actually did. You'd held his face like he was the most precious thing in the world to you, and the sad part was that he really was.
Your sincerity, your care for him, your mercy, all of it had cut right through him until he felt guilt, an unfamiliar emotion that he'd long since experienced. He had quickly taken you into the surveillance room, showing you the designs of your new gear. He had allowed you to hug him knowing that it would mean a lot, it was out of his respect for you, it was a minor act of contrition on his part too.
For someone who was so fragile you could be so fucking obstinate and unyielding. You had. . .demanded him to kiss you. With the way you were acting, it wouldn't be long before you had him on his knees and you'd be calling him a good boy.
He had sat there, cock stiff and starting to leak, as he leaned in and complied with your demand. It took him more than considerable effort to stop himself from mouthing at your neck and pulling you onto his lap so he could placate you some more.
Fucking Angelica obviously hadn't been sufficient. Perhaps he needed to give Talia a call, find out when one of her little 'gatherings' would take place. He didn't understand why they weren't simply called what they were, orgies. If he could fuck ten or fifteen people in one go, his libido would be satiated and his cock wouldn't get instantly hard at the thought of what you were going to make him do next.
The promise of a new job had distracted you and kept you from noticing how hard he was. You'd ignored his suggestion to drug Lawton's daughter when you retrieved her, insisting that you'd convince her to go with you.
It was less than forty-eight hours later when you did exactly that. As expected, Lawton had realised that his daughter was missing when they brought him to a facility which was several blocks from the American embassy in Hong Kong. He tore a hole through it and escaped, four were confirmed dead so far. If they didn't have his daughter, they didn't have him on a leash anymore and there was nothing holding him back.
It took Slade less than ten minutes to track Lawton down to the temporary bolthole he was regrouping in. Hiding in Kowloon as a tall black man wasn't exactly an easy feat, it's the reason why they based him in Hong Kong in the first place.
Slade scaled up the side of the apartment building with a case of gear on his back. No doubt he'd be spotted even though it was nighttime, but his armour and weapons were covered by a long trench coat and its hood. Lawton's heart rate was elevated, he was injured rather than simply stressed as Slade could smell blood through the very slightly open window.
Habit had him almost pulling out the Glock from his holster as he was about to breach. With his arm resting against his forehead, he smashed through the window feet first and jumped behind the closest available cover which was a shitty-looking sofa, keeping his arm raised. A round impacted the armour on his arm before he made it to cover.
“Lawton,” Slade called out as Lawton emptied the whole clip, most impacting the same spot on the armour plating on his back as they passed right through the sofa. Lawton reloaded before he responded, he sounded rather angry.
“Wilson?! We had an understanding!” Lawton seethed as Slade pulled out his phone but he didn't continue firing.
“You'll want to listen to this,” Slade told him, bringing up the audio recording from your phone.
“Zoe? Could you come with me please?” You asked over the echoing sounds of children talking down a corridor. You said nothing for a few moments, a door then closed shut and the noises from the corridor quietened. “You're not in any trouble. I'm a friend of your dad's.”
“You are?” Lawton's little girl replied.
“My name's Seraph, but you can call me S. Do you know what a Seraph is?” A short pause, presumably the girl shakes her head. “It's a type of angel.”
“Like a guardian angel?”
“Yeah exactly. I don't have wings but I can fly.”
“You can fly?”
“Mmmhmm. See.” The muted sound of moving air can be heard for a few seconds as you demonstrated.
“Cool! Do you look after my daddy then?”
“Not today. Today I'm looking after you and I'm here to take you to him, would you like that?”
“My daddy won't want to see me. I haven't. . .I haven't been good.”
“Zoe. Your dad will always want to see you because he loves you, no matter what, okay?” You reassured her calmly.
“They said I'm not allowed.”
“The people that look after you?” Another short pause. “I'm sorry they said that to you. But as your guardian angel, I'm overruling them. I promise you that your dad really wants to see you and he won't be mad.”
“He won't?”
“Not one bit. He can't wait to see you. We're going to have to leave right now though so you can't bring any of your things, okay?
“Okay,” the girl grumbles unhappily.
“You're going to have to put this on. You like purple, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Let's get this on. You'll need a helmet too.” Slade ended the recording and immediately called you up, putting the call on speaker phone so Lawton could hear.
“Hey, Slade.”
“Kid. How's the girl?”
“She's finally asleep. I. . .accidentally started playing with her and she kept wanting me to throw her around the plane. I think she needed to burn off the energy. Billy took a video of it, I'll send it over. Did you get Lawton out?”
“He made a break for it by himself. I've almost got my eye on him.”
“Oh okay. When you meet up with him, can you tell him Zoe's really excited to see him and make sure he says he's not mad at her. Those bastards made her believe it was her fault she couldn't see her own dad.”
“I'll pass along the message. I need to get back to work, kid.”
“I'll talk to you in a bit.” You sent over the video right away and he quickly skimmed over it, making sure that you were in it too. He slid the phone along the ground until it was within grabbing distance, Lawton snatched it off the floor and started watching the video. Slade heard the girl giggling and shouting 'again again' a few times.
“Is this. . .professional courtesy?” Lawton spat out angrily. “Making my daughter believe she's not being kidnapped?”
“That was the kid's idea, not mine. If it was me I would have drugged her.”
“I thought you worked alone.”
“I do. This isn't a contract.”
“Then what the fuck is it?”
“I need you off Waller's leash. Watch the video again, don't look at your little girl.” Lawton watched it again and responded a few moments later.
“You let my daughter near a fucking psycho meta?”
“You really believe everything Waller tells you?”
“We already had an understanding that we wouldn't take out contracts on each other's kids.”
“The kid's not related to me.”
“Fucking spell it out, Wilson.”
“You and your daughter are going into hiding. Start a new life with her. Retire or not, I don't care. In exchange, you don't take out any contracts on the kid and I'll ask for the occasional favour.”
“Favour?”
“I have multiple sites that need to be raided simultaneously, primarily for a data extraction. I need the manpower.”
“That's it?”
“For now.”
“Even if I believed you, I don't have the kind of resources to go into hiding. My accounts have been wiped, all of my assets have been liquidated.”
“I'll provide you with everything you need, think of it as a retainer.”
“If that meta isn't your kid, then who are they to you?”
“The kid isn't a particular fan of the US military. They're a do-gooder and wanted to help you and your little girl.”
“Why are you footing the bill?”
“They're making me a lot of money. It's not a concern.”
“You haven't answered my question.”
“I was captured and held for nearly two months. It had Waller's fingerprints all over it and I'm dismantling her little empire piece by piece.”
“And the meta?”
“The kid got me out.”
“I'm not buying it, Wilson. You've broken out of Belle Reve before. If you were held for that long it's because you wanted to be.”
“Unfortunately being paralysed doesn't pertain to prison escapes.”
“Paralysed?”
“Mmm.”
“You really pissed someone off, huh.” Lawton slowly shifted out of cover, his weapon drawn but no longer raised. Slade stood up from behind the sofa and caught his phone when Lawton threw it back. He heard vehicles racing towards the building.
“Do we have an agreement or not? We need to move.”
“I have your word that I'll be starting a new life with Zoe?”
“You have my word. And to be clear, if you ever hurt the kid, I will gut your little girl right in front of you. Bow to stern.” Lawton eyed him for only two seconds, he knew full well what the word of a mercenary meant.
“Alright, Wilson. I accept.”
- - -
You picked up Slade and Lawton from his safehouse in Macao four hours later. You didn't pick up on his wariness of you, presumably you thought he was simply anxious to reunite with his little girl. With Lawton in a stealth suit and strapped onto your back, you took hold of Slade's hand, pushed the air under his boot and flew them up into the clouds.
The flight to Bangkok took well under an hour and the humidity was worse than Hong Kong. After landing on the roof of the safehouse, you took Lawton's oxygen mask, goggles and helmet from him. He was hot on Slade's heels as they headed down a floor, it was to the point he might as well have been his shadow. Wintergreen was holding the front door open and Lawton stormed inside, rushing up to his daughter.
“Daddy!” The girl cried out in joy as Lawton pulled her into a tight hug.
“Sunshine! I missed you so much.” Slade glanced over, watching as you took in the scene, it was one that only you could have made possible. Elation was splayed across your features. Slade gestured for Wintergreen to come over and he headed into the kitchen, hearing him follow behind.
“Update?” Slade asked when Wintergreen joined him.
“I've made contact with the deputy inspector of police in Kathmandu. They can offer around thirty-two thousand.”
“Accept it and I know it's pittance before you point that out. It'll be good training for the kid.”
“This won't be training, Slade. You'll be going into a war zone. There's mass civil unrest, the protestors have taken up arms alongside the police after more than sixty of them were shot dead in the streets. The army will start launching airstrikes soon and they will secure the capital by force over the coming days.”
“Like I said, training.” Wintergreen didn't look convinced. “This is what the kid was made for.”
“Do you really think they're ready?”
“Yes.” He pressed his lips together, displeased but he wasn't going to object any further.
“I see that their appetite's improved.”
“Mmm.” It's about goddamn time it did.
“They tucked into the biscuits. Without prompting.”
“What point are you trying to make here?”
“You've reconciled with them.”
“If that's what you want to call it.”
“So you didn't want them to leave, hmm?”
“The kid doesn't want to leave me.”
“And why is that?”
“I'm irresistible.” Wintergreen scoffed loudly and gave Slade an annoyed, tired look. “Accept the job. ETA one hour.”
Slade watched as Wintergreen acquiesced and walked into the office to make the call. Lawton still hadn't let go of his little girl, Slade never knew Rose when she was that small.
“Thank you for getting Zoe back to me,” Lawton thanked you sincerely as he held her on his hip.
“Oh. . .uhh. . .well Zoe's very sweet and she's really brave too,” you replied to him. Slade thought you might have gotten the hang of people thanking you for helping them by now but you continued to act awkwardly.
“Kid,” he called out and you excused yourself from Lawton before approaching him. He gestured for you to thin out the air so Lawton couldn't eavesdrop. “An urgent job's just come up. How up to date are you on the situation in Nepal?”
“It's turning into a civil war, isn't it?”
“It is. The government's lost control of the capital and the Prime Minister has ordered the army to recapture it. The protestors have been joined by the police and some soldiers that have defected but they don't have the firepower to hold them back for long.”
“What's the job?”
“Defend the capital,” he answered, taking in the focus on your expression, you were primed and set for a new job even after just completing one. He knew you were ready for this. He had to hold back a smirk when you replied to him.
A/N - Thanks for reading! Do yall still wanna hurt Slade? Come on, he's trying! He wants to be your good boy. 😇😇😇 Can't wait to hear your thoughts hehehehe. Did you enjoy Rose and Joey in this chapter??? More coming soon 😊
how many times do you think slade can come in one session? did his enhanced abilities have an affect on that?🫢 or is he still regular in that regard? also how many times can he make his partner finish?
Hey anon! Slade doesn't exactly have a refractory period because of the serum, so he'd could come what. . .every five minutes or something? It's going to be really excessive hahahaha. He's definitely not normal, him being enhanced would make him extra horny as well 🤣🤣🤣.
Even if he comes ten times, his body is going to replenish his come as long as he's hydrated because that's how fast he heals so he can just keep going and going. He'd be insatiable. He'd be a fucking machine. How many times can he make his partner finish? Well how much can your body take? That's the real question. Whatever record you have for coming in one day, Slade is going to surpass it with ease. He'll become intuned with your body and know exactly how to make you come over and over.
what about slade with a partner who has endometriosis? he tries to help but they know there’s nothing he can do🥺
Hey anon! Slade would get really fucked up about having a problem that he can't solve, he can't use his bare hands to stop it, to kill it, to eradicate it, he can't utilise his extreme wealth to pay for the problem to be removed. It would make him feel useless, like he can't protect you and that would be rather debilitating to him because he's a provider, a protector.
I think he'd pour millions of dollars into researching the disease, employing the best scientists and researchers to understand how it forms, why the symptoms vary so much for different people. He'd ensure that you were as comfortable as he could make you but again your pain isn't going away, the problem isn't something he can fix.
Or is it. . .? If modern science can't help, then what about the science of the future? The Justice League and all those do-gooders mess around with time travel, so why couldn't he? Why couldn't he steal device to make him travel to the future so he could find a cure and help you?
If not science, then what about magic? He'd find John Constantine and use whatever means he needed to get his help, to magic the problem away. If not Constantine, then what about Zatanna? What about Raven? He could work himself into a frenzy trying to find a cure for you and exhaust every eventuality.
