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| Ravager II |
Last time on RAVAGER ROLL CALL, we were introduced to the man who would become the second Ravager. That man was Bill Walsh, aka the mercenary and freelance terrorist known as the Jackal. Walsh and Slade Wilson met while at the elite, Camp Washington military training facility. Walsh soon resented Slade as he continually outshined him during training, and, according to Walsh, stole the affection of Adeline Kane, a trainer at Camp Washington. Walsh washed out of the program, but Slade not only stayed but married and had to sons with Adeline. Walsh moved on to assume the role of the terrorist, Jackal, while Slade volunteered for an experimental procedure that gave him his superhuman abilities. Slade used his new abilities to become the super-assassin and mercenary, Deathstroke the Terminator. Years later, Deathstroke and the Jackal would clash when Walsh kidnapped Slade and Adeline's youngest son, Joseph. All Walsh wanted was the name of one of Deathstroke's clients. Despite pleas from Adeline, Slade refused to give up his client and attempted to take down the Jackal and his entire crew. Though Deathstroke accomplished this feat, it was not in time to keep Walsh's man from cutting Joseph's throat. Furious that Slade hid his activities as Deathstroke and that he chose his professional ethics of the safety of his son, Adeline tried to kill Slade, but her shot only resulted in the loss of an eye. Adeline left Slade, taking both boys with her. And now...the rest of the story.
Years later after the events of "Titan's Hunt," Slade had every intention of retiring from the mercenary game to become a big game hunter in Kenya. Adeline had formed the organization, Searchers Inc. and was hired to safeguard a highly dangerous target. This job had her guarding a mystery object on a moving train that had departed from Stuttgart, Germany. Though she had a sizable amount of backup, a helmeted figure flying a single-seat helicopter engaged the security team and boarded the train. He then took out a crew of guards and stole a mysterious canister, which was the reason for such heavy security. The thief next climbed back on top of the train and advanced toward the train's engine. Once entering the engine, he shot the engineer and Adeline. The then addressed her by her name, telling her, "Long time, no see. See you still got your looks." He then grabbed her by her collar, told her to, "Say 'hi' to Slade for me when you see him in Hell," and then threw her from the moving train. He then boarded his copter and made his escape.
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| The second Ravager, in disguise, throwing a gut-shot Adeline from a moving train. Art by Steve Erwin. |
At same the time Slade found out about Adeline, a helmeted figure was hovering over Slade's Kenyan hunting lodge taunting him over a loudspeaker. "Hi there, Slade. Been a damn long time. Slade, Buddy, thought you'd like to know your wench didn't even squeal when I gut-shot her." Slade and Wintergreen took cover in a Jeep and tried to draw the copter away from the house. The pilot didn't take the bait, instead, he unleashed a missile at the Jeep, turning it over. Slade reached his power staff and returned fire. Slade demanded to know who attacked him, but the loudspeaker only responded, "Your past, Wilson. But don't worry we'll meet again. It's our destiny." The copter then fired another missile, this time destroying Slade's hunting lodge, then made its getaway.
Slade and Wintergreen next made their way to Stuttgart to check on Adeline. But, Slade chose to leave when Adeline once again lost consciousness before she could give him any more information on her attacker. After doing a bit of...let's say aggressive investigative work, Slade discovered that the item stolen from the train was Plutonium. Meanwhile, the helmeted figure delivered the Plutonium to his client in the Quraci military. While this figure was receiving his next orders, he took off his flight suit to reveal another, more familiar one. This suit is almost identical to the one once donned by Grant Wilson. The mystery man then identifies himself as the Ravager.
After some more aggressive investigation, Slade discovered that his mystery attacker was working for General Avral Kaddam, the newly ascended Quraci leader, and likely delivered the Plutonium there. Deathstroke and Wintergreen journeyed to civil war-torn Qurac and met up with a contact they had inside the rebel forces. Once he got the schematics of the General's compound from the rebels, Deathstroke then infiltrated the general's headquarters figuring that Adeline's attacker would be there. Even though Slade was right, the newest Ravager had laid a trap from him there.
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| Deathstroke ambushed by the Ravager Art by Steve Erwin |
As Deathstroke maneuvered through the general's compound, the Ravager opened fire, ambushing Slade. While Slade was recovering, the Ravager revealed himself, wearing a version of Grant Wilson's old suit. The shock of this image threw Slade off of his game as the two mercs engaged one another. The Ravager taunted Slade by claiming that he was in fact Grant seeking revenge on his father. Slade regained his composure and after a savage physical exchange, Deathstroke took the upper-hand and was about to slay the Ravager, only for General Kaddam to shoot Slade in the back, thus saving the Ravager. As Kaddam was about to finish Deathstroke, the Ravager convinced Kaddam not to kill Slade as he still needed for Deathstroke to suffer. As the rebels drew closer to taking the base, Kaddam and the Ravager tried to make their exit, but they were pinned down as Wintergreen had arrived to try to protect Slade. But as Wintergreen descended the steel staircase, the Ravager opened fire bringing the metal structure down and Wintergreen with it. After the Ravager and Kaddam had fled, U.S. forces came onto the scene taking an unconscious Deathstroke and Wintergreen into custody as the Ravager had a man inside the CIA that framed Slade for treason for supposedly backing General Kaddam instead of the U.S. backed rebels in the Quraci civil war. Meanwhile, after some time had passed, the Ravager is shown on the deck of a sailboat that has been loaded with the stolen Plutonium, with the unmistakable view of Washington D.C. in the background.
Slade played possum as he and Wintergreen were being transported by U.S. forces. Slade noticed that his guards' commanding officer was wearing a ring with the Ravager's logo on it. Understanding his dire situation, Slade sprung into action, taking down his captors and escaping into war-torn Qurac. Meanwhile, the Ravager and General Kaddam were leading a crew of men preparing to detonate a nuclear device at the site of trade treaty signing by the U.S. President. General Kaddam laments that had Deathstroke not interfered in his plans, that they would have had enough Plutonium to bomb multiple treaty signings around the world simultaneously and send the message to the rest of the world that he, and not the West, was in control of the Middle-East.
When Slade reached in Washington he prepared to confront to Kaddam and the Ravager as they were moving on the Senate house. The two killed their way to the underground tram system that links the Senate house to the Capitol Building where they planned to set the nuclear device to destroy Washington D.C. and stop the treaty signing. As Deathstroke arrived he began tearing through Kaddam's forces as he pursued the terrorist pair. Kaddam panicked when he heard the distant screams of his dying men and broke for the tram to set the bomb in place. But before Kaddam reached the tram, the Ravager, using Deathstroke's stolen power staff, shot him in the back, killing him while declaring that, "I can't let you screw up my plans."
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| The Ravager reveals his true motive. Art by Steve Erwin. |
As Slade reached the Ravager, he was disarmed by a blast from his own power staff. The Ravager then revealed himself to Deathstroke, but at first glance, Slade didn't recognize him. After the Ravager mentioned Camp Washington, Slade realized that he was looking at his old classmate, Bill Walsh. Walsh explained that he blamed Slade for ruining his chances with Adeline and for his washing out of Camp Washington. As the two mercenaries engaged in swordplay, Walsh reminded Slade of their previous encounter the night that Joseph Wilson was muted by a knife to the throat. Slade then understood that Walsh and the Jackal were the very same man. This revelation enraged Slade to the point that his emotions were compromising his concentration and fighting technique, allowing the Walsh to take the upper hand in the fight. Walsh explained that though he took two bullets to the chest that night, he survived. It took nearly two years for Walsh to recover, but when he did, he planned his revenge against Deathstroke.
Walshes next revelation was equally devastating for Slade as he admitted to being the H.I.V.E. agent who recruited Grant Wilson to undergo the very procedure that allowed him to become the first Ravager, which ultimately killed him during his failed attempt to kill the Teen Titans. Walsh claimed to have known the procedure would be fatal and that recruiting Grant was no coincidence, but instead was calculated revenge against Slade. As the two killers continued to fight, Kaddam's nuclear device beeped, indicating that it was armed. Walsh declared that he never intended to leave their confrontation alive and that they would both go out in thermonuclear glory. But as Walsh gloated about his impending victory over Slade, Deathstroke managed to ironically slice Walsh's throat with his sword. As Slade prepared to deliver the literal death-stroke, Walsh managed to kick him off the platform and onto the tram tracks. Walsh jumped down to the tracks as well to finish Slade. As the two old soldiers grappled for Walsh's sword, Slade wrestled it away from Walsh and plunged it deep into his abdomen, fatally wounding him. As life took its leave from Walsh's body, Slade ran the blade in even deeper. The last words Walsh ever heard were the ones in which Slade exclaimed that because of all the pain Walsh had caused his family, that "I can't kill you enough." While the immediate threat posed by Walsh was over, Slade remembered that the nuclear was still set to go off. Slade reached the device with 10 seconds left on the timer. As Slade frantically pulled multi-colored wires away from their connections, the timer stopped with but single second to spare.
The epic climax of Deathstroke versus the Ravager is posted below. Art by Steve Erwin.
