Deathstroke: The Terminator #7: “I should have seen it coming”

The first page opens with Adeline at a gravesite talking to her kid who has passed away. Adeline blames the secrets and disconnect with the father because she feels she has lost this precious part of herself. Pretty grim way to start, but a nice hook for someone like me. Who is just getting into the series, and it makes me wonder. Who is her kid? Who is the father? And now is she a bad guy? Tell me more! We skip to the past where it is revealed that she is pregnant and keeping it from Slade because she knows once she tells him, he will overprotect her.

I want to be very honest here. The writers teed this up perfectly, and I still did not think about it or see it coming, and that gets huge brownie points with me. The two plan on going on the mission alone (Adeline and Wintergreen). But when we get to the next page, we see that Slade was already aware of the mission and was on the boat with them. This ramps the tension up just a bit not much, but we know the secret she is keeping. So, we worry about Adeline and Slade. How does this end for them?

As we go through Gammora Island we do not see much action. This is where character development is going on. In this moment, Wintergreen reminds Adeline of the secret she is keeping and why she needs to tell Slade. Once again, the writers are setting up the big moment in the issue. The three sneak around the lab, and finally the big action piece of the issue happens where they are fighting a bunch of aliens and do not know what they are fighting. They want to keep them alive for maybe a panel or two before the moment happens. One of the aliens claws Adeline right in the stomach. I literally yelled “Noooo!”

That is when Adeline said, “Kill them all,” which Slade has no issues with doing. This is where Slade tells Adeline she should have backed off and let Wintergreen and him handle it. She rips his head off for suggesting it, reminding him that she is the lead on the mission and he will treat her with the respect that she deserves. Slade does back down for the moment; that surprised me at first, but when I thought about it. That really shouldn’t have; Slade is extremely disciplined and does respect the chain of command even though he will break the chain if he needs to.

The three soldiers get to the doctor, and one more very short action piece takes place; they take him down quickly. He is not a threat without gadgets against three highly trained soldiers. Then we see the aftermath of the mission. The three may have accomplished the goal, but at what cost? Wintergreen insinuates to Adeline that maybe it is time to retire, and then we get back to the present where we see Adeline visiting the doctor asking for “Real power”. He hands her something that he says will make her “Unbreakable”. Adeline has aged, and she looks good but miserable, and the doctor went from having one or two burns on his face to now being covered in them. And that is where issue 7 ends.