Chapter 20

"Fwoooo" Deathstroke took a deep breath as he took a stance with his sword. He has chosen not to take an aggressive route and be patient.

Batman charged in. He threw bombs at deathstroke's face to distract him.

Pop pop crack.

Schwiiing.

Deathstroke swung his sword blindly but it cut nothing but air because Batman was now above him and an incoming kick was aimed at deathstroke's neck. Deathstroke moved and the kick hit his shoulder instead.

"Urgh!"

Batman did a spinning kick after he landed and got blocked by deathstroke. Then, deathstroke slashed at him again. Batman caught deathstroke's sword with the blades on his forearm and tried to break it. Deathstroke saw this coming and pulled his sword before Batman could break it. He pulled it out and stabbed at Batman with it. Batman dodged it and countered with a punch to his core and his chest.

Deathstroke took a lot of damage and made him lose balance. Batman took advantage of this by kicking the sword in his hands, disarming deathstroke. He spun and kicked deathstroke's head. Deathstroke fell on his behind.

Batman was about to win. Terry was about to avenge his father. All of his months of hard work in the batcave was about to be paid off.

Fwoosh.

Something flew at Batman and he dodged it. He saw that something made a hole on the floor and it was smoking because of the heat it generated. Somebody shot at him.

Fwoosh.

Somebody shot him again. And again. And again. And again.

Fwoosh Fwoosh Fwoosh Fwoosh Fwoosh.

Batman sensed that he can't let it hit him or he will accumulate damage, rendering the defensive capabilities of his suit useless. It must be armor piercing rounds the way the bullets lodged itself on the floor.

He hid behind a structure where Deathstroke was hiding before. He tried to peek where the bullets were coming from. From the distance, he saw someone that was wearing the same colors as deathstroke wielding a sniper rifle. He hid again to dodge another bullet. The bullet went through the corner of the structure where Batman was peeking his head at just now.

Batman turned on his thermal vision to monitor deathstroke who was on the other side of the structure that he was hiding at. By seeing deathstroke's heat signature, he can see that he was getting up.

"Deathstroke! You coward! Tell your sniper to back off so we can finish this one on one!" Batman shouted so Deathstroke at the other side could hear.

"I'm afraid our time is up. My current client is an annoying one, you see. He'll want to see me soon after you messed everything up. Let's continue this next time."

Deathstroke turned around and was leaving.

Batman felt his rage rising up. He despaired at the possibility that he may never have a chance like this again.

"You bastard!" Batman got out of the corner that he was hiding from and saw deathstroke on the ledge.

He tried to run to him but he got shot on the chest. The suit's defensive abilities handled it but it received significant damage.

"Urgh!"

-Warning. The suit received significant damage. Defensive systems is now at ninety-five percent.

He ran again and got shot.

-Warning. Defensive systems is now at ninety percent.

-...eighty five percent.

-...seventy percent.

He got shot every time he moved. He felt pain but the suit didn't let him have any grave injuries because it sustained and dissipated it.

-....fifty percent.

Batman panted on the ground because he was exhausted from the pain. He looked at the ledge that deathstroke was standing on but he was long gone.

-Meanwhile at the penthouse-

Barbara Gordon was about to go down the building.

Ring ring

Barbara's smartwatch rang. She answered it by tapping the earpiece that she was wearing.

"Who is it?"

-It's been a long time, Barbara.

"Dick?" It was Richard "Dick" Grayson aka Nightwing. "Listen, I have no time to catch up. If it's nothing important then-"

-No, it is important. One of the titans went there at Gotham. It's Rose Wilson. Slade Wilson's daughter.

"Deathstroke's daughter?"

-Yeah. You see, when Deathstroke came here to San Francisco, he wanted to bond with her again as father and daughter. Maybe he missed his family after escaping prison or something. He made trouble for us here before he escaped overseas. Before he left, he said something to Rose. Something like "if I ever find myself in Gotham again, I'll probably die because somebody there has a grudge on me." She was gone since yesterday. Rose probably heard news of her father's appearance in Gotham and went there to try and save him and yeah, if you ever see her, don't fight her. Okay?

"You idiot! Why tell me something this important now?! Why not sooner?! Why don't you come here and pick her up yourselves?!" Barbara shouted.

-Ouch. Don't be so loud. We're busy here too because she left her work unfinished and we have to clean up after her. I figured she can handle herself anyway and you, Alfred and your new Batman can welcome her in.

-Barbara. Someone is shooting at me. I was about to capture deathstroke but someone stopped me. To think that he wasn't working alone. Damn it!

Barbara's other line that was connected to the batserver started receiving transmission from Terry.

"Tsk! I'm on my way!" Barbara muted him and got back to Dick Grayson's line. "You asshole! I'm on my way to fix your mess right now! We'll talk later. You better pick up or I'm going to Jump City just to kick your face in!" She hung up without letting Nightwing say anything.

-Back on the rooftop where Batman was-

"Damn it all!" He punched the floor that he was kneeling on and made a crater.

-....defensive capabilities is at thirty percent.

The shooter was still locked on him. He or she wasn't trying to kill Batman necessarily. The goal was obviously to let Deathstroke escape the area.

Batman turned his head and looked directly at the shooter. The shooter didn't look away and received Batman's glare head on.

They were at a standstill.

It was only after a few minutes has passed that the shooter lifted her rifle and stood straight up. Deathstroke must be far away now.

Batman did the same. Both were still locking eyes with each other.

Then, Batman smiled.

The shooter was confused of his sudden amusement, but then, shivers went down her spine when she finally realized why Batman was smiling. Someone was behind her.

She wanted to react quickly but couldn't. It was too late. She felt her consciousness wavering until pitch black darkness surrounded her vision.

Batman flew to where the shooter was. There, he found Barbara Gordon who knocked out the shooter. He landed in front of her and the unconscious woman lying on the floor.

"If only I had known there was another one other than deathstroke." Batman said.

"You couldn't have known. There is no record of this woman being connected to deathstroke. Dick Grayson must have hidden it from Bruce for some unknown reason."

"Dick Grayson?"

"Yeah. He called me just a while ago when you faced deathstroke. This girl is a titan and also deathstroke's daughter."

"What?"

"Everything's not clear. Take her back to the batcave. I'll meet you there." Barbara said then walked away.

"Deathstroke's daughter..." Batman stared at the woman.

He picked her up and flew away.

From the stairs, Barbara saw this scene. She didn't leave right away because she was curious what Terry would do if he was left alone with the relative of his father's murderer. It was a test in a way if he was really worthy of Batman's cowl. She could say that she wasn't disappointed.

On his way to the batcave, Terry couldn't help but feel animosity to the woman she was carrying. He kept glancing at her. The colors on her cowl which are reminiscent of deathstroke didn't help calm him down either. He was fighting the urge to just drop her from high up. But he resisted it and did not give in to these temptations. Because he knows that this woman didn't kill his father. But that doesn't mean he has to like her either.

After a few minutes of travelling by flight, he finally arrived in the batcave.

Terry let the woman lay down on a couch in the batcave.

"Deactivate suit."

-Deactivating suit (LUCIUS)

He kept staring at her. He was also curious about what the woman looked like behind the cowl.

His hand hovered over the unconscious Rose Wilson's head and stopped at her neck.

"What am I doing?" He muttered to himself then walked away from the woman to take a seat at the chair across from her.

He stared at her for a long time until he fell asleep.

When Terry's eyes opened, his vision was blocked by someone's body standing in front of him. He slowly looked upwards to find out who it was.

Terry narrowed his eyes. It was Rose Wilson aka Ravager.