Chapter 19

"What a nice young lad. I wish my son could be just like you." Derek Powers said.

"Thank you, sir."

"Commissioner Gordon. Fancy seeing you here." Derek Powers greeted Barbara Gordon. The atmosphere got cold all of a sudden because everyone knows of the ongoing police investigation of Powers' alleged connection with the criminal syndicate and not anyone dared to mention it.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Powers." Barbara said as she thinly smiled.

That was it. They did not exchange words with each other than that and it left the mood sullen.

An awkward atmosphere fell upon them.

"How is your father doing lately, Derek?" Finally, someone tried to lift the mood up again.

"My father is doing just fine. Thank you, Director. Even though he is technically competition now." Derek Powers chuckled.

The lights suddenly went out. Then, a couple of lights began to move and gathered at the stage.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's entertainment. Thank you, Mr. Luke Fox, for setting up this event for a great cause and inviting us." One of the lights shone on Luke Fox. He waved his hand and smiled. Everyone cheered and clapped.

Terry was the only one to notice that Derek Powers wasn't smiling or clapping for the president of the company.

"The buffet table is now serving, ask the waiters for anything, and the bar is open. I made sure of that, as you can see." The lady help up her glass. Everyone laughed. She looked elegant in her pink dress that glimmered with the lights on stage.

"A toast to Gotham's prosperous future. Cheers!" The lady said. To which the whole crowd replied "Cheers!" then drank whatever it was in their cup.

"The band and I will be playing some songs. Feel free to request anything. The dance floor is also open to everyone. Let's get this party started!" The lady pointed to the band. The drummer counted the band in. They started to play something jazzy. Just like that, the event has officially started.

"Did you get to do it?" Barbara suddenly asked Terry.

"Do what?"

Barbara put her thumb and pointing finger together gesturing to something small.

"Oh, that. Yeah. I got it on his shirt when I shook his hand."

"Good."

"I'm going to go get something to eat. You want some?" Terry asked Barbara.

"No, I'm fine. I ate before coming here."

"Liar. Just say you're on a diet." Terry quickly escaped to the buffet table after saying that.

He left Barbara fuming as he laughed to himself.

The night went on and more people began to arrive.

Almost all of the people in the party were the most influential people in Gotham.

Terry would have never imagined to attend something like this in his lifetime. As he drank his martini that he practiced ordering earlier in front of the mirror, he couldn't help but feel that something is wrong.

Does he still feel like he doesn't belong to this crowd? He can't pinpoint where the feeling in his gut is coming from.

"Hey. You okay?" It was Barbara. She found him after talking to a lot of people.

"Having fun?"

"This used to be fun when I was your age. Now, it's just tiring." She said as she leaned on the tall table between them.

"Yeah?" Terry looked at the crowd of people. They were laughing, drinking, singing, and dancing. Just watching them made Terry more tired.

-...luck be a lady tonight luck be a lady tonight...

The music from the band filled the whole place.

"Want to dance?" Barbara suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"I said, do you want to dance?" She clarified.

Terry just made a confused expression.

"Come on. Let's go." Barbara held his forearm and pulled him to the dance floor.

"Hey! W-wait!" It was too late. They were already on the dance floor.

"Come on, McGinnis. Have a little bit of fun while you're young." She put Terry's arm on her shoulder and the other on her waist.

"I know how to have fun." Terry said.

"You were just in the back sulking like an old man. You know, even if Bruce was real uptight, he had fun. Although, I think it was just him pretending to have fun." Barbara smiled.

"Fine." Terry gave in and smiled back at her.

They danced to the jazzy music the band was playing.

"Having fun now? Or would you still like someone younger as your dance partner?" Barbara said with a smug smile. She was obviously still sulking about Terry's joke.

"Maybe," Terry teased her a little bit "but I've been with older women before." Terry gave a daring smile. It made Barbara blush a little.

-Wait for a minute after I get on the elevator, then, do it.

Terry furrowed his brows at what he heard. It was an intercepted transmission from powers courtesy of the tracker he planted on him.

"What is it?" Barbara asked when she noticed the sudden change of Terry's mood.

"It's Powers. Something's wrong."

They began to look for him.

"There he is. I think he's heading towards the elevator." Barbara found him first. "He's leaving. So what?"

"No. I think there's something else." Terry scanned the crowd again. The bad feeling in his chest kept getting stronger. There was something that he is missing.

-Can you hear me, Deathstroke?

-I hear you. I'll open fire when you get out of the area.

Terry widened his eyes. The final puzzle piece came directly from the enemy.

"They're going to kill everyone here!" Terry said to Barbara frantically.

If the court of owls want to take back control in Gotham, they needed to hold the most important and influential positions. They were doing it slowly, but now that they're being pressured, they need to do it fast. Eliminating the people that hold the seat of power and replacing them will be much faster. A method that they didn't consider before until now. You could say that the actions of Terry and the others pushed them to do so.

"What?"

"You heard me. Deathstroke is here somewhere. I need you to take care of these people. I have to go."

"Okay, I'll handle it. Go!"

Terry ran. He ran towards the fire exit.

He got outside and jumped into the air. He smacked the button on his belt then, the nanotech was released and covered him. Fire shot out of his soles and made him fly up.

Meanwhile...

"Mr. Luke. We have a problem, sir."

"What is it, Barbara?"

"Everyone here is in danger. They're going to try and kill us."

Luke Fox widened his eyes at her ominous statement.

"What-?"

FFFFFFFFFFF

The enemy didn't give him time to be confused. Smoke and fire were already headed their way. In the middle of it was something pointing towards them. It was a rocket headed straight to where they were.

BOOM!!

They closed their eyes by instinct at the sudden explosion, but they know that the rocket didn't hit them. At the last second, they saw the rocket got obstructed by something. And as if to answer what that was, the man that stopped the rocket from killing them was flying above them.

"Batman!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

Another rocket was heading towards them but this time it didn't get close and exploded far from them as batman threw a batarang at it.

They crouched and were all starting to panic. Screams started to rang out.

"Everyone! Listen to me! Head to the exits now! Don't use the elevator! Don't push each other! I promise that we will all be safe!" Barbara Gordon controlled the situation before it got worse.

Each one of them hurried up and rushed to the exits as soon as the commissioner finished giving instructions.

Luke Fox stayed behind with Barbara Gordon to oversee the evacuation and make sure that everyone is safe.

"Luke! You should have been the first to evacuate. Your position in Gotham is most probably one of the positions that the enemy covets the most." Barbara calls him by his first name without honorifics when they are alone indicating their closeness to each other.

"Not until everyone is safe. I invited them here which makes them my responsibility." Luke Fox adjusted his glasses. "Besides. We are the bat-family. No other man is better to have my back other than him right now." He pointed at Batman with confidence.

Barbara looked up to where Batman was and smiled.

Batman saw this and nodded.

Seeing that most of the guests have evacuated the penthouse, he flew towards the direction of the rocket in his top speed.

"Where are you, deathstroke?" He muttered while searching for his target.

His vision switched to thermal vision. It's one of the functions of the suit. Batman scanned the area and found a heat signature hiding behind a structure on one of the rooftops.

"Found ya!" He said.

He accelerated his flight towards his target. But then the target revealed himself.

Deathstroke was holding a rifle and had a clear shot at Batman.

Ratatatatatatata

It was dark and so anyone would be able to see the light produced by the rifle as he shot Batman in the air.

Batman was stopped and fell between the building that deathstroke was standing on and another building.

"Hm." Deathstroke uttered.

He was seemingly disappointed by the result. He turned around to escape because his mission was foiled. But then, as he turned around he saw a metal object fall on the roof.

Clank clank.

It bounced around until it reached the ledge.

Tink.

It got stuck there. What followed was a dark sillhouette of a man dressed as a bat launching into the air and was falling towards Deathstroke.

Deathstroke narrowed his eyes and prepared to block the incoming attack.

A flurry of kicks from the sky was launched at him as he used his rifle to block it all.

He got pushed back by Batman. Deathstroke seeing the grappling hook launch and the consecutive flying stomp kicks aimed at him all happened in under three seconds.

"I knew it seemed all too easy." Deathstroke smiled behind his orange and black mask.

There was a significant distance between them created by Batman's last attack. Deathstroke immediately aimed his rifle at Batman, but Batman was also quick as he threw smoke bombs on the floor.

Poofffffff

Batman let himself be enveloped by all the smoke.

Deathstroke laughed out loud. "That was a nice introduction." He said as he seemed to be having fun. He turned around and searched for Batman amidst the smoke. He can't seem to feel his presence at all. "You'll make the previous Batman proud. A little bit rude for a first meeting, but it damn sure leaves an impression."

"This isn't the first time we met." Batman's voice echoed throughout the place.

Deathstroke turned around to where he seemed to have heard his voice but Batman wasn't there.

"This might be the third time that we have met."

"Really?" Deathstroke kept searching for the source of the voice.

A batrang shot out from the smoke towards him and he blocked it with his rifle. The batarang got lodged into the rifle rendering it useless. Deathstroke threw it away and pulled out his swords. He knew a handgun would be useless against his current foe.

"The first time when you killed my father. The second time was at the docks almost a year ago."

Deathstroke widened his eyes at the revelation.

"You were...So, you weren't an aspiring mercenary? To think that you wanted to be a masked vigilante instead." Deathstroke chuckled. "I even gave you advice. I'm sorry that I went ahead of myself like that. But hats off, kid. You got good at this. Let's see how much you improved. Come at me!"

A fist came flying towards Deathstroke from his side. He blocked it with his forearm and slashed with his other free arm.

Clank!

Batman caught the sword with the blades protruding on his forearms and used significant force to break the sword. That left deathstroke with only one sword.

Deathstroke threw the broken sword away and launched a kick towards Batman, all in one motion. That's how you know that Deathstroke has mastered his skills. His experience in fighting is to the point that every move he makes is efficient and not wasted.

"Argh!" Batman grunted. That's how much force that kick carried when it can be felt through a suit that can render guns useless.

There was significant distance between the two again. The two adversaries stared at each other as the next exchange might decide the winner.