Luthor's Assassin

Egypt

Dick's head snapped sideways as a fist slammed into his face.

"You hit like a grandma," he spat, and received another punch, to the stomach this time, for his trouble.

He was tied to a wooden chair in the middle of a warehouse, directly underneath a skylight. His hands were tied tightly together behind his back, and his ankles were bound to the legs of the chair. Two men were in front of him- one lazily smoking a cigarette, and another reeling back to punch him again. Several guards were scattered along the perimeter of the building as well, all armed with machine guns. His utility belt and katana were across the room, with a guard watching over them as well.

It didn't look like Dick had much chance of escape.

Then again, looks could be deceiving.

Sighing inwardly as a fist smashed into his face yet again, Dick fought the urge to break free and kill the idiots that had supposedly "captured" him in the most violent, painful way possible.

This was a stupid plan.

"This is a stupid plan", he signed with his hands. Though they were behind his back, Dick had crossed his wrists when they had been tied together, and uncrossed them once the ropes were on. The slack he had been able to create gave him just enough room to use sign language.

From somewhere above him, observing from through the skylight, Slade chuckled through his earpiece.

"I'm aware of your opinion, Renegade. Stay put."

Dick scowled and slumped in his seat.

"Come on, try a little harder!" he taunted the meaty guy hitting him. "I bet if you put a little force into your next hit, I might actually feel something!"

Alright, so maybe it wasn't Dick's best idea to taunt the man using him as a punching bag, but he had definitely had worse.

Earlier that week, Slade had been given a contract to take out a powerful drug dealer named Amir Faiz. The pay had been good, and Slade had accepted the job. But to Dick's surprise, the mercenary had actually insisted that he come. Dick hadn't complained. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, and Slade had been acting kinder towards him since the Injustice League incident. Dick was just fine with obeying the man, anyway.

They had taken Slade's private jet to Egypt- Cairo, more specifically, where Faiz's underground operations were rumored to go down. They hadn't been given that much information- all they knew was the man's name and general stomping area (and that they needed to kill him, of course). He was very secretive, and rarely attended any of his operations personally. Heck, they didn't even know what he really looked like!

Or, in other words, he was going to be very difficult to take out.

Deathstroke had been combing the city for a week now, with Dick at his side, and all they'd been able to do was break up a few drug rings and capture a couple of Faiz's lower-ranking men (who hadn't known anything and had been completely useless).

And that was when Faiz became aware that Deathstroke and his apprentice Renegade were trying to kill him.

That was also when Slade had come up with the absolutely brilliant plan that Dick was stuck participating in right now.

And yes, that was sarcasm.

Faiz wanted to know who had hired the mighty Deathstroke, of course. But neither Dick or Slade thought that the man would actively try to capture the master.

No, the much easier thing to do would be to go after the apprentice.

They had been right.

Dick had been on patrol, swinging through the skyscrapers of Cairo, when he had been attacked by ninjas.