Deathstroke (Volume 4) #2 is an issue of the series Deathstroke (Volume 4) with a cover date of November, 2016. It was published on September 14, 2016.
Synopsis for "The Professional, Part 2: Band of Brothers"
In the past, a young Joseph Wilson is playing video games. Adeline then tells him she is leaving for a few days to track down his father, and to let his brother know. As she walks out, Joe responds that Grant told him Slade is never coming back. Now homw alone, he decides to throw a wild party. Two days later, as Adeline is returning home, she gets word from a friend that there is no trace of Slade anywhere. Upon entering, she finds her living room trashed, as Joseph never bothered to hide his activities. However, she notices a more pressing issue; a photo of Joseph with a blade to his throat pinned to the wall with a knife. Next to the picture is a message written in blood: Call me Deathstroke. She immediately calls Slade to tell him what is going on. Though he picks up, she can barely get a word out before he brushes her off and hangs up. Heading back out, she calls her friend to find information on Deathstroke, the man she believes kidnapped her son. It turns out Slade rebuffed his wife because he, Wintergreen, and their team are flying in a derelict plane towards an operation in Cambodia. Slade complains about Billy's flying skills, Billy complains about flying a stolen junker, and the rest of the team fret about their inevitable crash and dealing with Khmer Rouge holdouts from the war. Billy reminds Isherwood that they were given this job to get Ms. Worth away from the holdouts. As they crash, Isherwood fears they will die, but Billy tells him of his plan to die of old age like a normal person.
In the present, Wintergreen walks into a pub in Edinburgh, gun in hand. Fredric, the bartender, immediately recognizes him, asks if this cliché moment is what it's come to. Having been eight years since the Cambodia exfil, he hasn't reached out since. He tells him he has been indisposed. Though unsatisfied with his answer, he offer a drink to Billy...and his friend. Billy explains why they are there; after faking his death to retire from their line of work, the actor he left in his place was murdered, and he was captured a short time after. The problem is only five people knew he was alive, and three of them are in this bar. Fredric is insulted that he and his ninja friend, easily recognized as Slade in the Ikon Suit, suspect him. He offers to tell him a story about a man named Racskowski, their old crewman.
Earlier, Slade traveled to Manchester to meet "Rax", but he finds a couple has rented out his house while he is on holiday. Slade convinces them to let him in, but when they try to kill him, he kills them. As he jumps out the window, he finds that Rax is already dead. Back at the pub, Fredric tells them that there are now only four of their crew left, with Isherwood being the only other man not present. Billy theorizes that Rax was tortured, but Fredric claims that no torture could make a mercenary like him talk. However, Isherwood, their cowardly inventor, could have ratted him out. Billy tells Fred that, he the recon man for their op, is still a suspect.
Fredric then flashes back to the Cambodia op, and remembers their goal; get Lillian, who was abandoned by British intelligence around the time gangsters working for the local drug cartel targeted her, out of the country. In the brothel, Fredric is asking an employee in Lillian's brothel about the owner's American sounding name. She ducks the question and tries to find him company, only to by the gangsters. Fredric asks for them to surrender, just as Isherwood snipes the closest thug to Fred. As the rest of the team enters, Fred goes to find Lillian, but things go sideways when he he is shot...by a little girl with silver hair. Wintergreen comes in after him, and he gets the girl to calm down and drop her gun. As he comforts her, Slade walks in, and he asks what he's done.
In the present, Fredric confronts Slade about the true purpose of their last op together, and the other secrets he kept. Billy redirects his question back to him. Having been made, Fredric comes clean. Jealous of his friends' wealth and prosperity, he sold Wintergreen out to an unknown party. As he waits for either Slade or Wintergreen to kill him, he then realizes that Slade had pulled a familiar disappearing act. Billy assumes that he has gone to see Isherwood. His theory is proven accurate, as he is in Windsor fighting Isherwood a.k.a. Dr. Ikon. As he is using a superior version of the Ikon suit, he easily gains the upper hand. He tells Slade that he regrets creating his Ikon Suit, but Slade responds that he did, and now needs to own up to his decision. As the two reach a standstill, Slade chastises Ikon for being a small -time hero and demands answers. Isherwood thinks that Slade believes he is the sellout, but he reveals he knew all along it was Fredric, and he wants to know who approached him. Isherwood claims that he told them what he is telling him: that he forsook his life as a friend of Slade and now follows Christ. He tells him about Rax, but he responds that he isn't Rax, and that he doesn't know who kidnapped Wintergreen. However, he believes that Slade already knows who is responsible, because that's how he operates. As he warns Slade to leave town, he gets a call from Billy.
It turns out that Slade was never at the pub, and he hired a stand-in to fool a now dead Fredric. As he pays the stand-in, Billy tells Slade that Hosun, Slade's new Isherwood, messaged him about accessing Slade's Dark Web mail. After giving Hosun access, Billy reports that most of his mail is old news, except for one: a live contract on his daughter, the Ravager.
Appearing in "The Professional, Part 2: Band of Brothers"
Featured Characters:
- Deathstroke (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- David Isherwood / Dr. Ikon (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
- Wintergreen (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Fredric (Flashback and main story) (Dies)
- Miao (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Adeline Kane (Flashback only)
- Joseph Wilson (Flashback only)
- "Rax" Racskowski (Dies in flashback)
- Rose Wilson / Ravager (Flashback and main story)
- Delores (Phone call only)
- Batman (Mentioned only)
- Grant Wilson (Mentioned only)
- Hosun (Mentioned only)
- Lillian Worth (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Cambodia (Flashback only)
- Canada
- England (Flashback only)
- Manchester (Flashback only)
- Scotland
- United States of America (Flashback only)
Items: