civilwarnovels Chapter 4555 The Day of Brightest Day (4)
Chapter 4555 The Day of Brightest Day (4)
Chapter 4555 The Day of Brightest Light (XIV)
The violent traits that Deathstroke demonstrated to him included the ability to easily escape unscathed from a horrific explosion, to offend the world's worst enemies and be hunted halfway around the globe unharmed, and to handle attacks from dozens of people with dozens of guns with ease. Schiller treated all of this as a kind of insurance.
Deathstroke knew perfectly well that this kind of scene was by no means commonplace for the man before him; in fact, one could say that Schiller had been trying his best to avoid this situation before his arrival.
However, after discovering that Deathstroke could control him, Schiller stopped focusing on it too much. Perhaps this was a good thing for Schiller, because indulging himself was much easier than restraining himself, but for Deathstroke, it was like a discus falling from the sky.
Schiller politely gave Deathstroke a hint, and Deathstroke, unwilling to admit it, felt his highly capable mind hadn't fully grasped the mystery. So he reluctantly accepted it, finding it undeniably acceptable. Because if he had chosen to leave while at sea, Schiller wouldn't have allowed himself to lose control, Egypt wouldn't have been in any danger, and he could have completed his mission.
But because he ignored those words and failed to seize the only rope in the whirlpool at the right time, he is now completely unable to climb out.
The destruction caused by Schiller's loss of control was staggering, injuring Deathstroke and preventing him from leaving at this crucial moment. He had no obligation to protect Egypt, but his professionalism as a top mercenary compelled him to fight with everything in his power to ensure no one was killed.
Yes, if it were just a mission, he could abandon it; after all, the losses were already significant. The cost of repairing the greatsword's worn metal coating alone had already exceeded the mission's reward. But he couldn't cause his employer a major problem while failing to complete the mission, or his reputation in the industry would be completely ruined.
Without a doubt, Schiller is a huge problem. If we leave him in Egypt, the good professional image he has worked so hard to build will collapse overnight, which is absolutely unacceptable.
Clearly, this is a trap. Deathstroke is well aware that Schiller has become a sunk cost he cannot abandon, and this must have been Schiller's doing. The current situation was created by Schiller himself.
“A cunning lad,” Deathstroke remarked. He subconsciously touched his chin, then froze, realizing that it sounded rather odd to say such a thing when he was still young. After pursing his lips, he said, “You want to talk, right?”
He sat down opposite the sofa, but then pushed off with his legs to retreat to the other side of the wall. He had to protect the last piece of furniture; he would be sleeping there that night.
Schiller cleared his throat and practically laid out his entire mission, because he knew that Deathstroke was already on a sinking ship and wouldn't be able to get off anytime soon.
Schiller's strategy for dealing with Deathstroke came from his past life's experience. He had dealt with many mercenary assassins, and their greatest weakness was their reputation.
The mercenary circle is very small. The world's most famous assassins may not know each other, but the brokers who do business with them will definitely know all of them and know each other.
This means that if any of them does something foolish, they'll be blacklisted by almost everyone. The business of licking blood from a knife's edge isn't easy; huge profits come with huge risks. No one is willing to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, giving up their only chance to act, in exchange for the guarantee of a reckless fool. Making oneself appear as intelligent and cautious as possible is a mandatory course for assassins.
It's easier to ruin their reputation than to ruin them. Once a mission ends in an extremely ugly manner, their career as an assassin is essentially over. After all, no one can be perfect forever, but there will always be someone in their prime who never misses a shot.
Deathstroke has been in this line of work for far too long; his reputation is immense, and his heyday was incredibly long—he's practically a legend in the assassin world. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that he can leverage his fame to land many lucrative jobs; the disadvantage is that he can't afford to make a mistake. Otherwise, those aspiring newcomers will do everything in their power to bring him down.
They have no way to defeat Deathstroke, but they can use it to cause trouble, disappoint their employers and brokers, which will inevitably lead to a loss of a large number of clients, and like other hitmen, they will gradually go downhill.
Deathstroke himself was well aware of this, so he had to cherish his reputation more than others. Anyone who dared to disrupt his mission would be dealt with severely, even Robin. Therefore, he had no chance of getting rid of Schiller.
Deathstroke is starting to dislike his overdeveloped brain. If he weren't so smart, he would have simply abandoned Schiller and left. But because he realizes he can't do that, he can only patiently analyze what Schiller's mission is all about.
"If, as you say, that swindler from France took the collection away by using legal conventions on the transfer of cultural relics, then you shouldn't even think about getting it back, because that would prevent the relics from ever being exhibited again, which is definitely not what your employer wants."
“How do you know?” Schiller said. “As far as I know, he wants it back not because it’s so valuable, but because it has some special research applications.”
“That’s just what he said,” Deathstroke said, scoffing. “If someone doesn’t care about the monetary value of something and only cares about academic research, where does he get the money to hire you?”
"I'm not a mercenary. Let's stop guessing our employer's intentions. I don't expect him to give me a good review either..."
"Oh, I see, national reputation and beliefs, right? Well, that's why it's not unfair of me to call you blue-skinned dogs. Only dogs are unconditionally loyal."
“I think you’re a bit agitated right now,” Schiller said. “You’re spending too much energy complaining and blaming, which is obviously not helpful for our communication. Perhaps we could wait until you calm down…”
“I’m not good at this,” Deathstroke said. “Normally, I can complete a mission perfectly without teamwork. It’s not that I can’t communicate, but I find it hard to stay calm when I think about how you just got me shot.”
“How about this,” Schiller said. “I promised you I’d give you this gun when we got to Egypt, but since it might be the only weapon that can withstand my strength, I’ll probably have to keep it. But I can try to get the weapons manufacturer to get you one you want. What do you think?”
“Tell me more,” Deathstroke said, leaning forward with interest. He had a well-known hobby: collecting all sorts of powerful weapons. His greatsword was currently the best, but as the saying goes, it was better for defense than offense. In terms of manipulating tank cannons, he considered himself no less skilled than Schiller.
“Give me the phone number,” Schiller said.
"The signal here might be blocked. If you want to call back to the US directly, you might need to..."
“No need, I’m sure she can get through.” Schiller took the satellite phone from Deathstroke, dialed the number, and quickly contacted Diana. However, since he was now completely deaf and couldn’t even hear some words, Deathstroke had to translate for him.
"Hello? Good news, I've arrived in Egypt. Bad news, the boat ticket was a bit expensive..."
"You tell me, how much do you want?" Diana had clearly resigned herself to her fate. "Just don't make me recount our honeymoon in Paris again."
"It's Barcelona, ma'am."
Deathstroke's eyes widened, his gaze shifting back and forth between Schiller and the satellite phone. Schiller continued, "A weapons master needs a gun that suits him..."
“No, I still want the sword,” Deathstroke added.
"Oh, he wants a sword, a weapon similar to that Colt Python, forged by your brother, right?"
"Since you know it was forged by my brother, you should understand that not just anyone can use it..."
"Those who use it are the death knell."
"Deathstroke, that assassin? How did you get involved with him?"
"Excuse me, madam, I have to interject. It's not that I wanted to get involved with him, you don't even know your husband..."
Schiller reached out and shoved him away—with such force that he nearly slammed him against the wall, and the sofa next to it was also destroyed. He covered the receiver and said to Deathstroke, "Wonder Woman is on the other end."
"Oh my God, you've hooked up with Wonder Woman?!"
“That was just a joke,” Schiller said.
“I hope not, so I can send you back to the Amazon.” Deathstroke was extremely disappointed. Actually, the Amazon was quite far from here, but he was willing to travel that distance if he could get rid of Schiller.
“I will not build weapons for assassins,” Diana said.
“Unless he can help you complete the mission,” Schiller said. “You didn’t tell me before you sent me here that the Red Sea was almost completely out of control, and the situation was far more complicated than I imagined.”
“I thought you could handle it, especially since I gave you a powerful weapon.”
"Ha." Schiller sneered.
Diana seemed confused by his reaction. In her view, a multiverse mercenary who could make Batman a repeat customer from the main universe should be able to handle things on Earth with ease. Batman hadn't even bothered to forge him a powerful weapon, and she had gone to great lengths to visit the Temple of Vulcan—that was already more than enough.
"You bear at least 50% of the responsibility for how things have turned out this way," Schiller said.
This wasn't an exaggeration. In fact, things were already out of control the moment the first gunshot damaged his eardrums. Because he missed the danger of firing, he would have to fire at least one more shot to seize another gun. His health was deteriorating so rapidly in such a short time that he would have to expend a lot of energy to keep himself in control, leaving him with very little energy to focus on the mission. Things were destined to go wrong.
Deathstroke's arrival offered another, better solution than the previous one, but the root of the problem remained the same: that broken gun. Schiller truly hadn't expected that the seemingly innocent Wonder Woman could betray him in this way. Indeed, choosing the right employer is crucial; Batman would never do something like this.
"A gun? What's wrong with a gun?" Diana asked, puzzled. "I told my brother that the more powerful the better, and it also needs to be intimidating enough. I checked it by firing a shot before giving it to you..."
"You checked it?!" Schiller was genuinely shocked. "So you know how much noise firing a gun will cause?!"
“That’s why I said it’s a good weapon,” Diana emphasized. “I’ve been in war too, and I’m sure if you took this gun to the battlefield, all your enemies would run away.”
Schiller couldn't help but cover his eyes. How could he forget that Wonder Woman had participated in two wars, both on the front lines known as the "meat grinder"? Her understanding of human firearms was quite advanced; the only problem was that the primary objective on the front lines was firepower suppression.