Deathstroke didn't have to. He really didn't have to. Finding a small black haired and blue eyed boy on the grimy streets of Gotham was never part of the plan. Taking him wasn't either. Raising him was out of the question. But here he was, Deathstroke the Terminator, raising a wisecracking apprentice who could simultaneously make the mercenary proud and get on his every nerve. Deathstroke trained the boy, trained him well. But something made him hesitate, something like fear. Deathstroke would never admit it, never out loud anyway, but in all his years of killing and living up to his name... he didn't want to lose that boy. Overprotective was never in Deathstrokes vocabulary, but this boy was different, he could work wonders. Disclaimer; I own nothing but the plot Reverse Batfam AU Renegade AU Court of Owls AU NOT SLADIN Also warning for violence, abuse, panic attacks in some chapters, increasing severity of angst as book continues, and a few mentions of rape and suicidal thoughts.

Bruce Wayne couldn't come to the circus performance that fateful night. Instead, Deathstroke finds a young Dick Grayson running from the scene, who he takes in as his apprentice, training him to be a mercenary as he himself is. He cares for him as he would a son, but when a contract comes up, Deathstroke is forced to put his protégé through more than he ever had before to fulfill the contract, possibly putting more emotional strain on the boy's mind than he was prepared to handle. The Son of Deathstroke would infiltrate the Justice League by way of their team of sidekicks. xXx Not technically finished, but I'm not updating it anymore whoops