Deathstroke showcased his violent traits, including the ability to escape unscathed from a terrifying explosion, provoke the wrong people worldwide, be hunted across half of Earth yet remain unharmed, and handle attacks from dozens of people and guns with ease. All of this was considered by Shiller as a form of insurance.
Deathstroke knew clearly well that today's scenario was not typical for the man before him; in fact, it could be said that before he arrived, Shiller was trying his best to avoid this situation from occurring.
However, upon discovering that Deathstroke could stop him, Shiller stopped investing in controlling the situation. Perhaps for Shiller, this was beneficial, as indulging oneself is far simpler than restraint, but for Deathstroke, it felt as if an iron pie dropped from the sky.
Shiller politely hinted at Deathstroke, and Deathstroke was reluctant to admit that his highly potential brain couldn't fully comprehend the mystery, so he could only begrudgingly accept it, even without any possible critique. Because if he had chosen to leave at sea, Shiller wouldn't have lost control, Egypt wouldn't have faced any danger, and he could have completed his mission.
Yet, because he didn't heed those words and failed to grasp the only lifeline in the whirlpool at the right time, he found himself entirely unable to get back out.
The damage caused by Shiller's loss of control was astonishing, not only injuring Deathstroke but also preventing him from leaving at this moment. He had no responsibility to protect Egypt, but the professionalism of the strongest mercenary demanded that he must strive to ensure the mission doesn't fail.
Yes, if it were merely a task, he could give it up. After all, the current loss was already significant enough, and the repair cost of the great sword's metal coating alone had surpassed the task's reward. But he couldn't abandon the mission while causing a big issue for the employer, otherwise, his reputation in the industry would be entirely ruined.
Undoubtedly, Shiller was a massive problem, and if he were left in Egypt just like that, the good reputation he had painstakingly built would collapse overnight, which was absolutely unacceptable.
Clearly, this was a trap. Deathstroke knew very well that Shiller had become his inextricable sunk cost, and this was definitely deliberate on Shiller's part; the current predicament was crafted by Shiller himself.
"Cunning fellow," Deathstroke sighed. He instinctively touched his chin, then froze, realizing he was in his youthful state, making such sentiments rather odd. After pursing his lips, he said, "Do you want to talk?"
He sat opposite the sofa but used his leg to push the sofa to one side wall; he must protect the last piece of furniture, as he'll need to sleep here tonight.
Shiller cleared his throat and almost disclosed his entire mission because he realized that Deathstroke had boarded the pirate ship and couldn't leave for the time being.
Deathstroke's strategy stemmed from experience in past lives. Shiller had dealt with numerous mercenary killers; their most significant weakness was reputation.
The mercenary circle is quite small. Globally renowned killers might not necessarily know each other, but brokers capable of providing business certainly recognize them all and are mutually acquainted.
This means that if someone among them does something foolish, they'll be blacklisted by almost everyone. The business of licking blood off the blade is not easily done; behind enormous profits lie enormous risks, and no one is willing to spend hundreds, even millions of US dollars, to provide the only opportunity for action in exchange for the promise of a reckless headstrong person. Looking smart and cautious is a compulsory course for killers.
Destroying their reputation is simpler than destroying themselves. Once a task ends in an extremely ugly manner, their killer career basically concludes. After all, no one can forever avoid mistakes, but there will always be someone achieving peak precision consistently.
Deathstroke had been in the business for too long; his reputation was too great, his prime too lengthy, practically a myth in the killer world. This has both benefits and downsides: the benefit being he could secure many lucrative deals due to his reputation, the downside being he can't afford mistakes. Otherwise, those new to the game striving to climb up would definitely use every means to bring him down.
They can't defeat Deathstroke, but they can create trouble, making employers and brokers disappointed in him, leading to a significant loss of clientele, like other killers, gradually going downhill.
Deathstroke himself was very aware of this, which is why he had to cherish his feathers more than others. Whoever dared disrupt his mission, he'd deal with them, even Robin. Because of this, he had no option to rid himself of Shiller.
Deathstroke now began to dislike his overly developed mind a bit. If he weren't that clever, he'd simply leave Shiller behind and depart, but precisely because he realized he couldn't do this, he could only begin patiently analyzing what Shiller's mission was all about.
"If as you say, that fraud from France used the legal artifact transfer convention to take the collection away, then you shouldn't think about seizing it back, as this would render the artifact unable to ever surface, definitely not what your employer wants."
"How do you know?" Shiller said, "To my knowledge, he wants this item back not because it's valuable, but because it has some special research use."
"He's just saying that," Deathstroke sneered, "If someone truly didn't care about its monetary value and only sought academic research, then where did they get the money to hire you?"
"I'm not a mercenary, let's forgo guessing at the employer's intentions, and I didn't plan to seek a good review from him either..."
"Oh, I see, national reputation and conviction and such, right? Well, calling you guys blue-skinned dogs isn't unjustified; only dogs offer unconditional loyalty."
"I feel your emotions are a bit agitated right now," Shiller said, "You're channeling too much energy into complaints and accusations, which clearly isn't beneficial to our communication, or perhaps we could wait until you're calmer..."
"I'm not good at this," Deathstroke said, "Normally, I don't need teamwork to perfectly complete tasks. Though it's not impossible to communicate, thinking about how you just made me get shot makes it difficult to remain calm."
"How about this," Shiller said, "I previously promised when reaching Egypt, to give you this gun, but because it's likely the only weapon capable of enduring my strength, I might still have to keep it. But I can arrange with the weapon manufacturer to get the weapon you desire; how does that sound?"
"Explain in detail." Deathstroke immediately leaned forward with interest. He had a rather well-known hobby of collecting all sorts of powerful weapons. Currently, his great sword is the best, but as mentioned, more adept at defense rather than offense; in manipulating a tank's barrel, he prides himself as no less capable than Shiller.
"Give me the phone." Shiller said.
"The signal here might be blocked, if you want to call directly back to America, you may need..."
"No need, I'm sure she can receive it." Shiller took the satellite phone from Deathstroke, dialed the number, and quickly reached Diana. However, being completely deaf, he couldn't even hear certain words, so he had to rely on Deathstroke to translate for him.
"Hello? Good news, I've arrived in Egypt, bad news, the cost of the boat ticket is a bit high..."
"Just tell me, how much do you need?" Diana seemed resigned, "Just don't make me repeat our honeymoon trip to Paris."
"It was Barcelona, madam."
Deathstroke's eyes widened, his gaze moving back and forth between Shiller and the satellite phone. Shiller continued, "There's a Weapon Master who needs a suitable gun..."
"No, it should be a sword." Deathstroke added.
"Oh, he wants a sword, similar to that Colt Python, forged by your brother?"
"Since you know it was forged by my brother, you should understand, it's not something anyone can handle..."
"The user is Deathstroke."
"Deathstroke, the assassin? How did you get mixed up with him?"
"Sorry, madam, I have to interject, it's not like I wanted to get mixed up with him, you have no idea your husband..."
Shiller reached out and pushed him away—because of his great strength, he almost slammed him into the wall, the sofa unfortunately got ruined as well. He covered the receiver and said to Deathstroke, "It's Wonder Woman on the line."
"Oh my God, you hooked up with Wonder Woman?!"
"It's just a joke." Shiller said.
"I wish it wasn't, then I could send you back to the Amazon." Deathstroke said in extreme disappointment, actually, the Amazon is quite far from here, but if he can get rid of Shiller, he's willing to travel that distance.
"I won't create weapons for assassins." Diana said.
"Unless he can help you complete your task." Shiller said, "Before you sent me here, you didn't tell me the Red Sea area is nearing complete chaos, the situation is far more complicated than I imagined."
"I thought you could handle it, especially since I provided you with a powerful weapon."
"Ha." Shiller sneered.
Diana seemed to not understand why he reacted this way, from her perspective, a Multiverse mercenary who can make the Prime Universe Batman a repeat customer should be able to handle Earth issues easily. Batman didn't create a Divine Artifact for him, she even went to the Fire God Hall herself, she did her utmost.
"The situation turned into this, at least 50% of the responsibility falls on the weapon you gave me." Shiller said.
He wasn't exaggerating, actually, when the first gunshot damaged his eardrum, things went out of control. Missing the chance to seize another gun means firing yet another shot, in such a short time his health declined rapidly, forcing him to spend a lot of energy maintaining control, leaving little energy to focus on the task at hand, ensuring things wouldn't go smoothly.
Deathstroke's arrival provided another solution, better than before, but the root cause was still that damn gun. Shiller really didn't expect, the seemingly reliable Wonder Woman, could trip him up so well in this aspect. Indeed, choosing the right employer is crucial, Batman wouldn't do such a thing.
"Gun? What's wrong with the gun?" Diana asked, puzzled, "I reminded my brother, the more power, the better, it has to have enough deterrent, and I fired it to check before giving it to you..."
"You checked?!" Shiller was genuinely shocked, "So you know how loud the gunshot would be?!"
"That's why I said it was a good weapon." Diana emphasized, "I've also participated in wars, I'm sure that with this gun in battle, all your enemies will flee in panic."
Shiller couldn't help but cover his eyes, how did he forget, Wonder Woman participated in two wars, both on front lines known as meat grinders. Her understanding of human firearms is not low, the only issue is—frontline combat seeks fire suppression.