6Disclaimer: I don't own
Summary: Set during the Renegade arc, Deathstroke and Lex Luthor know that Nightwing is a spy and use the knowledge for their own entertainment.
- the mentioned kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum.
"What do you propose we do with the captured Red Hood, apprentice?", asked Deathstroke suddenly the young man standing next to him and Lex Luthor suppressed the need to swallow as he watched how the figure dressed in a skintight black uniform carefully hold his composure. They were in Lex private office, he sat behind his mahogany desk and the mercenary sat on the opposite side. The mans student stood right beside him and tried to conceal his natural reaction of distaste as he was addressed by his master. It wasn't an obvious display, the slight tension of the muscles only noticeable to those who knew it would be there.
Three day ago Deathstroke's apprentice had manged to beat and capture the vigilante Red Hood.
A noticeable feat for a man who had been nothing but Slade's silent shadow before.
While Luthor didn't trust the mercenary, trusting someone who sold his loyalty to the highest bidder would be more than stupid, he had faith in the man's professionalism and hadn't questioned him about his student. There were bigger issues than the help in training of a hired help in the new world he attempted to create.
Furthermore the young man's seemingly indifference towards anyone but his master had left him under the impression that the student shared his masters lack of concern about politics as long as he received his paycheck.
A simple world view which should have made for another rather pleasant to work with employee.
He had been wrong, as much as he hated to admit it, he Lex Luthor had been fooled by someone who once dressed himself like a traffic light.
The humor had neither been lost on him, nor on Deathstroke who had been honestly amused as he told him the 'joke'.
Apparently Nightwing had approached him with the claim that he wanted to switch sides. Batman's oldest, the golden boy who wouldn't be able to hurt a fly without feeling guilty, suddenly wanted to switch sides as a criminal empire arose.
It sounded more than slightly suspicious, yet Slade had played along for his own reasons.
Now he could be angry about Deathstroke allowing a spy into their headquarter, but he wasn't.
First of all, the mercenary was a far too valuable ally in this unstable time, loosing him as an asset was currently out of question.
Secondly, he was informed about the spy. Knowing who the traitor was gave him more than enough room to hid the evidence for his own crimes and thirdly he could use the undercover hero to eliminate uncomfortable becoming allies by leaving clues for him of their crimes.
The fourth reason was the sadistic pleasure of watching a spy suffer in his role, so he allowed Deathstroke's little game for now and enjoyed the show in his chair as it played out.
The neutral expression on Nightwings androgynous face cracked for moment and showed the full pink lips in a twisted grimace of disgust and surrender as a new mask of calm professionalism appeared. If it hadn't been for the strip of cloth covering his eyes they would have been most likely been able to see the light flicker in them. The room grew tense as both men anticipated the move their unknowing toy was about to make.
Strands of black hair moved slightly as the young man turned his head towards his master, successfully concealing his features for a moment as he spoke in a monotone voice:
"Batman has many secrets but he is also known to remain stoic while he is tortured. We could torture Red Hood, one his former students, in front of him. Either he will break down to save his child or the other heroes will feel uncomfortable around him for his lack of caring."
Silence answered the hero as his audience soaked in the words. He had just suggested that they tortured his little brother in front of their father to be able to use the most likely stoical response against him.
Unable to suppress the urge Luthor licked his lips, hearing such a cruel idea forced from someone who suffered while he voiced it made him hungry, oh so very hungry.
Deathstroke seemed stunned by the response he had gotten out of the hero and didn't continue the conversation.
Renegade remained composed as he waited for their response.
The thought itself wasn't that bad, however there were more things to consider than the heroes reactions. Lex wanted to built a functional economy and a ruler who tortured others tended to lose the support of his people. The self-preserving instinct warned most of them that such a person in power was a bad idea.
But they could do it in a more discrete setting, a video showing the torture and only shown to their prisoners and the still standing headquarter of the little justice club. It still stood because the heroes wanted to keep the headquarter standing as a symbol of hope for the people and Luther figured that it was better to know where his enemy might be. Furthermore destroying it now would make him seem like a terrorist, the people needed to get sick of the heroes out of their own free will.
The message,'you might not care about yourself but we won't hesitate to harm your students and it will be your fault', should either provoke an open attack in which case they might capture the remaining members of the League of Justice or at least dampen their spirits.
"This is the best idea I heard for the fate of our prisoner", commented Lex finally, which was truthful enough. It was unlikely that the wayward child of Batman had any valuable information, in fact capturing the murderer who killed others because they killed had been of very little value to him. It had annihilated a wild card and satisfied a few of his more action thirsty allies who didn't realize where the true change happened.
The spy stood still, frozen compared to how Nightwing had never been able to stand still, as the consequence of his suggestion became clear.
"Very good apprentice", complimented Deathstroke finally, his voice had dropped into a deep sensual purr and his lips curled into a predatory smile.
A tremble wrecked the heroes composure for a moment, the athletic body fully on display in the skintight uniform and Lex wanted nothing more than to cause the beautiful young man even more pain to get another response.
"I'm sure praise is a hard earned treat from your master, aren't you going to say thank you?", he inquired in mock friendliness. Yet Nightwing managed to retain his composure somewhat as he lowered his head slightly.
"Thank you, master", he voiced in a demure tone and Slade seemed to relish in his submissiveness for a moment.
"You need to thank Mr. Luthor for reminding you of your manners apprentice and try to look him into the eyes," the mercenary replied, repaying the small favor.
Nightwing raised his head, the lips in a forced a smile. The lines in his face were strained, his mask was still somewhat in place, but there were cracks. Like a pot repaired with the Japanese art kintsugi the face too became so much more beautiful with the noticeable flaws.
"Thank you for reminding me of my manners Mr. Luthor", the revulsion wasn't entirely banned out of his voice but he sill manged to speak them in a pleasant tone.
"Did your master also train you how to torture others?", he asked neutrally, yet it was clear for everyone where this question would lead to as another tremble shocked Nightwings body.
Hm well the plot bunny is now free^^
There might be others chapters