His wife was two days overdue.

Two.

Which meant the entire house had been operating under a state of quiet panic.

The nursery was finished.

Hospital bags were packed.

Every phone in the house was fully charged.

And yet—

No baby.

Their doctor had only smiled and offered one piece of advice.

Walking could help.

So now, unfortunately, walking had become the mission.

The problem?

Slade had an actual mission.

One involving a contract deep in a rainforest several countries away.

The kind of job that couldn’t easily be postponed.

The kind of job that would keep him gone for days.

Under normal circumstances, Deathstroke wouldn’t have hesitated.

A contract was a contract.

But these were not normal circumstances.

Because his wife was currently very pregnant.

Very uncomfortable.

And, according to the doctor, could go into labor at literally any moment.

Now Slade stood in the kitchen in full gear while his wife slowly paced around the living room.

One hand pressed to her back.

The other resting on her stomach.

The sight made him frown.

He had faced metahumans with less concern.

His phone buzzed.

The extraction team.

Then another message.

The client.

Then another.

His pilot.

All asking the same thing.

Was he coming or not?

Slade looked at the phone.

Then at his wife.

Then back at the phone.

For several long seconds, he said nothing.

Finally, he picked up his gear bag.

And set it right back down.

Another message arrived.

We’re waiting on you.

Slade typed exactly three words.

Find someone else.

The replies came immediately.

Shock.

Confusion.

Several question marks.

He ignored all of them.

Because somewhere in the rainforest, someone else’s target could wait.

His child couldn’t.

And if labor started while he was halfway across the world?

No.

Absolutely not.

Slade crossed the room and stopped beside his wife.

Carefully, he placed a hand on her back.

Then sighed.

The contract would survive without him.

His reputation would survive without him.

But missing the birth of his child?

That was one failure Deathstroke had no intention of ever making.