There were few things that hurt as much as getting hit in the face by the guy with the bat costume. Though the pain sent echoes throughout his face, Slade merely spat at the ground, leaving a small stain of red. He looked at Batman with a nonchalant look.
"You've gotten better." The old mercenary commented as he sheathed his staff and swung a furious blow at Batman's head. The hardened vigilante countered him, though made an opening long enough so that Slade could send him staggering backwards with a kick. One blow was usually all it took for the average person to go down, but it certainly would take more than lashing his foot out to have Batman of all people go down.
"You won't escape this time, Slade." The man underneath scowled as he recovered from the blow.
"I swear, you and your friends always tell me that. Perhaps if you ever changed your methods, I wouldn't ever walk away." Slade grinned as he charged forward. His fist missed, though send a massive dent in the wall. Rather unexpectedly, he felt a heavy curb to his stomach as Batman sent a flurry of fists down upon his gut, each and every single one of them kneading the titanium armor that could have stopped bullets. He could have even shattered the breastplate, had Slade not caught his fist and twisted him onto the ground, punching him heavily in the face, leaving small droplets of blood upon the floor.
"You should have brought your flyboy. He may actually beat me." Slade looked as Batman got back up off the ground. Behind him, he saw the arrows flying, and Wonderwoman tanking shots from Eila and Sanya. His phone read that it'd take 2 minutes for the vault to open. Judging from the looks of things, he probably didn't have that much time as he quickly began to make his way to the vault, making sure to throw a flash bang that the amazoness warrior to temporarily throw her off. As he was doing this, Hawkeye found himself battling for once, having difficulty with another man who carried a bow. The two arrows which had been shot at each other, lay broken in half, tips piercing the other. The green archer was giving no quarter, and as Hawkeye had a feeling, he shouldn't be giving any either. Dashing from his cover, he shot off an arrow at his opponent, who evaded it skillfully as he retaliated. Not one to give up, Hawkeye tried again. This time, his opponent instead caught the arrow, and sent it right back at him which he countered by also catching and shooting back like a game of lethal tennis. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Slade tossing his staff.
"Okay. Forget waiting the vault to open. Here." Slade called as he gave Sanya his staff. "See that trigger?"
"Yeah?"
"Good. Do that thing you do with guns. Now point it at the vault, and shoot. Maybe have a friend hold onto you, or take a step back."
"Why?"
"You'll find out." Slade replied as Batman fully recovered. The batclaw grabbed hold of him and sent him backwards, right into the waiting roundhouse that slammed him into the wall. This time, the fury of blows did indeed shatter his breastplate, while another uppercut caused his nose to split right open. Retaliating, the assassin blow caused the bat to go down on a knee, his opened hand outstretched. Placing a foot upon the hand, Slade flipped himself, making sure both his legs hit the batman right in the face. The caped crusader hit the ground with a hard thud. When he tried to rise, the quick move of a remote claw sent him dangling from the ceiling. At the same time, the explosion coming from the vault door told him that Sanya had done her job. He quickly made his way over before waving Hawkeye. Black Widow was already where she needed to be.
"Wait... where did he go?" Sanya asked as she pointed at the empty rope.
"He tends to do that." Slade replied grimly as batrang slapped him straight across the head. The small edge was non-lethal, but good enough to give him a cut across the cheek as he looked at the caped crusader.
"Let's go." Hawkeye suggested as he ducked from the arrow. "Humph. He's good."
"It's what every archer wants pal!" Green Arrow called, evidently hearing Hawkeye. "To see who's better! Come out!"
"Sorry friend. I have another thing to do." Hawkeye replied as he fired a smoke bomb arrow at the emerald archer. A fight between them would be pointless, especially if a larger thing was at stake, and losing his life meant losing his life meaninglessly. "So... what now?"
"We get the diamond." Slade nodded as he picked up the large crystal. "Hey kid, wanna... get us to escape?"
"Here!" Eila called as she placed a hand on the large crystal, the stone beginning to hum and glow.
"Eh Slade? We got more company!" Black Widow called as she saw some of the water pipes bursting. A large man with a golden mane armed with a trident came straight out. Behind him, followed by a man dressed all in green. They were soon joined by a flying figure in red and blue.
"Almost done!" Eila called.
"HURRY UP!" Slade screamed almost in panic as the sight of a kyrptonian flying full steam ahead snapped right into his eyesight. But just before his head was taken off, the glow engulfed him. And he was saved.
Until he realized, when he looked up, he was starring face to face in a man in an owl costume, who had a temporary expression of surprise, and then a wicked grin when the knives came out.