//------------------------------// // Chapter 44 // Story: Six wishes for six elements // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// Sanya groaned painfully as she stood up, at a drop of roughly 30 feet, she should have been dead. Maybe one of the perks of being a witch was that a fall that high didn't kill you, only rendered pain throughout your body like hellfire. Getting up, she realized the sharp stabs that went through her leg as she stood up, or more accurately... just the ankle. She had spranged it. That was only the least of her worries as she saw the skeletons of the dead approach her with a motley array of weaponary. Grabbing her side arm, she fired several shots in the skulls, sending bones clattering to the ground. Her heart sank when she heard the click, as the undead approached. The shield she erected buckled and cracked at the first blow of an axe. A second strike and the ether of protection began to crack and fade. It would not save her a third time. Thankfully for her, it wouldn't need to as the sniper bullet took out her attacker, and every attacker within a six foot radius. Slade. Looked like someone had gone back on their word afterall. "Slade?" Sanya asked almost with disbelief. That was all she managed to get out because the pain in her ankle felt like hell as of now, attempting to hobble over did little than to worsen the case, causing her to cry out audibly in pain... which actually sounded a little something like this. "Jesus... you got yourself messed up pretty badly..." Slade commented as he took a look at Sanya. She wouldn't be moving at this rate, not like that. Looking up, he cursed silently to himself. The ledge was JUST SLIGHTLY out of reach for his grappling hook. They were going to have to go the long way... around... and up the stairs... pass... like... a few hundred skeletons... um.... yeah.... "Hey kid... I got pretty bad news..." "We're going up the long way?" "We're going up the long way." Slade confirmed. "You should leave me..." Sanya suggested. "I don't... I don't think..." "Don't talk like that." Slade said. In truth... he wanted to say much more. Those four words... were easily the four that caused the most shock to him in all his life. And it was only then did he realize... how much did she remind him of himself. "I am getting you out of here..." Sanya nodded though her doubts were more clear than Celestia's brightest day. "I can't walk..." "You don't need to." Slade said as he held her in one arm. Good thing she weighed nothing and that he was probably stronger in one arm than most people were in their entire bodies. Thank you experiments... He turned and clenched his teeth so hard that it hurt when he saw the hordes of skeletons approaching. Damn... this was a bad spot. He took a look at his weapons for a moment, the ballistic staff... useless unless he had both hands, an empty assualt rifle, an empty pistol and his two swords. Natrually, he grabbed one of the two blades, and approached the exit, cooly and calmy as the monsters approached the two of them. What did he have to fear? He was Deathstroke, a man of such skill in battle that not even the Dark Knight was able to beat him single-handely. At this moment, it was like any other, he'd beat one hundred men once without as much as breaking sweat. The fact that these things went down like a sack of grain at the slightest touch easily compensated for their vast numbers. Yet... at this moment... he felt it. It was the same thing everyone felt at, at least more than one point in their lives. The same feeling Green Arrow felt when facing down the Dark Archer, or batman when facing with the fact that Gotham would potentially go up in flames. Even better yet, when the Justice League would have to face the potential destruction of many lives. It wasn't fear. No... a fiery determination, a burning desire to finish it all. Even if offered 50,000,000 dollars to get the job done, he couldn't have possibly been more motivated.His foes were the walking dead, but Deathstroke would have nothing to fear. For in this moment, he was armed with death. "Slade..." Sanya gasped out weakly. "There's..." "A lot of them... I know." Slade replied as he held onto her tightly. "But... just me... no... just us is a lot as well." "You first." Steve said to Armin as he looked at the zipline. He clenched his teeth as the rumble occured once again, the very foundations of the moutain seeming as though they had been rocked loose. The bomb must have detotonated by now... or is in the process of starting some kind of chain reaction within. He gingerly looked back as Armin got on the zipline and to safety, clenching his teeth at the empty hallway. He wanted to stay, but he knew in the bottom of his heart he couldn't. Grabbing the zipline, he went down as he radioed Slade... only to realize his nerves for the first time in his life had failed him. Even though the zipline extended over to an area that was like gazing in the maw of the darkest abyss... staring into the pit would have been less daunting than using his radio. It would take him several tries before he found his nerves. "Slade... we're out. How about you?" No answer. "Slade?" Steve asked as he walked over to Medic, Jim and Armin. "Slade?!" "We're alive!" Slade grumbled back as he dropped his shattered mask down the stairway, a large red scar had formed on his cheek when he had been careless. The kevlar within his body armor had been broken in many places, along with ugly dents in the metal parts. And the important thing? Sanya was okay. She could walk now... but not without support. That, Slade as more than able to provide. "We can rest for now." Slade said as he took a drink from his canteen. The sweet smell of wine filling the small corridor which the two rested in, the zipline would have been a short distance away to even the most novice of all runners, though it seemed like an entire pilgrimage to the two of them. "Ow..." Sanya said as her cat ears began to move. Alert. The magical antennas appearing as she listened, she turned paler than normal the more she listened to the sounds of the moutain, and the wild roars and shrieks of some unfortunate dragons. "Slade... thanks." "Don't mention it kid... what's that?" A kopeck? Cute. "Can you take this?" Sanya asked as she handed him the bronze coin... it... well... It was rather a long story. But let's just say it was comparable to how a child usually held sentimental value upon the first few trinkets they received from anyone they cared about. "A kopeck...?" "I know it's not much... but... it's the one I got... when I played the piano for my father during one of his concerts..." Sanya said as she thought of the time. She was very young at the time, maybe about 7 or 8. "Umm... sure... and you dropped this by the way." Slade said as he handed her the photo. The photo of her family. "Thank you." Sanya said as she placed it back in her pockets. But we need to get moving. "That we do." Slade said as he helped her up. "Come on." They ran into no difficulties along the way, though the rumbling was began to have a slightly... uneasy affect upon the pair. The magical antennas stayed as Sanya continued to listen, her breathing became very taxed as she broke into cold sweat. It seemed like eternity for them to reach the zipline. "Alright kid... you first." Slade said as he took a look. "You just gotta..." "I know... but... maybe you should go first..." "What? Why would I do that?" Slade asked. "You pulled me out of there and..." "I think I'll finish the job then. Go... I'll..." "Slade... I need to know that you're going to make it." Well... no one ever said that to him in a LONG time. Like maybe 40 years long. "I am going to make it kid. But with that leg of yours... you're going to need to..." "You took a beating back there too! You also need..." The rumbling started again, cutting her off as she liked around frantically and stopped speaking. Whatever arguement she had was gone... though she was intent on one thing. Slade would go first. "Well... sorry kid then..." Slade said. "Wait... what's that?" "What's what?" Sanya asked as she turned around. "I don't see any... ughhh..." She sighed slightly as Slade hit her upside the head, causing her to still be concious, though in a very dazed state. She could do nothing as Slade grabbed some cable ties, and tied her to the zipline, sending her down. She snapped out of it the moment she realized that she was almost down the zipline, she looked back at Slade who was still watching her. No... the volcano... it's going to collapse The moment she hit the ground, was the moment the line went dead. Looking over in horror, she saw the many rocks and rubble that came crashing down. It hardly looked like Slade even as much as cared... because he didn't. He only closed his eye and smiled to himself. "I am sorry Adeline." He had put one thought as the rubble came raining down upon him. Find your parents kid.