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Robin laughed, his voice filled with humor. 'Seriously? Why can't you just be like a normal person and fall for me?'
'Seriously?' I asked back. 'Stop saying cheesy pick up lines and maybe I will.' I shot back, mimicking his tone.
'And don't worry, she's going to talk.' I continued, smiling until a familiar voice popped into my head.
Miss me?
'Oh, what makes you say that?' Robin asked curiously.
Don't tell him, don't tell him, pwetty please.
'Well-' I stalled, wondering what Don wanted now.
With cho'co'latae on top! Don screamed.
'It's a surprise.' I smirked, answering the bird finally and deciding to indulge my imaginary friend..
'Now who says well all the time.' Robin mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
'Still you.' I quipped.
Ohh, this's gonna be fun. O I can already see their faeces *maniacal laughter*.
Placing my hand on my head, I sighed. I really needed help, and so did Don, with his english.
And that was how I, Robin and Don, were left in a room as the interrogation of my Shade pressed on.
××
'Why did Leader do this?'
'What did I do wrong?'
'Is Leader sympathizing with me?'
'No, no.' A head of red hair shook, 'Leader doesn't sympathize, Leader doesn't have emotions.'
'Am I going to die?'
This was how it was for the hours the Shade was detained. The first hour she didn't utter a word, and was the epitome of calm. And now, barely into the second hour, she was pacing around the room, mumbling to herself, seemingly at the point of a mental breakdown.
She bit on her perfectly manicured nails, as she looked at the beautifully written words on the picture.
Duty Free.
'What does this even mean?' She screamed, throwing it on the table in front of Batman.
Yes Batman was there, he had to be, he was interrogating her. And yes, the thought of sedating her had come to mind. . . several times.
'I don't know.' He answered, staring at her with an intense glare. 'I thought maybe you could help me with that.'
'What did I do wrong?'
She ignored him, turning around to continue pacing.
'Look, maybe we can help you, it seems that you are afraid of Leader-'
'Aren't you? Leader is aware of everything and anything, and might be watching this very second.'
'Who is Leader?' Batman asked, intrigued, and curious as to whether this Leader character was Shadow.
'No one knows. Their gender is unknown. Age, unknown. All We know is that Leader is the sovereign of the Nightshade, and that they are pacifistic and the whole reason the Deadly Nightshade was initiated was to bring about world peace. That's why we only kill people on top of the wanted list, the people who are virtually untouchable, to achieve a sense of stability.
'Our motto is, "No one deserves to die, but some have to be sacrificed."
Our mission, world peace. All orders come from Leader, no one else.'
Batman frowned. From everything the Shade just said, it was clear that Shadow wasn't the leader of the Nightshade, because a lot of people knew about Shadow.
'Then who is Shadow?' He thought out loud.
The red head scoffed. 'You thought she was the leader of the Nightshade? Then you are misinformed, she is just the leader of the Gotham division.'
She continued, her tone tinged with veneration. 'The smallest, yet most elite and loyal of the divisions. It is a fact that leaders of the other divisions came from her division. There is a myth that the Nightshade started in Gotham and spread out from there to all over the world. Being the leader of the Gotham division is like being the first born of a king, no, a god. You have the second highest position, and Leader's backing.
'That's why I admire both Leader and Shadow, in that respective order, because the more valued your position is, the more people will try any means to get it, and yet they both managed to stay alive.'
Batman stood up, walking out the door to the one opposite it. He paused as he heard arguing coming from the other side.
××
Shadow
'Come on.' Robin pleaded.
I rolled my eyes and walked towards him. 'No.'
This had been going on for practically, forever. The bird wanted to know what I was hiding, while Don. . .
Yes, yes. The annoying voice chanted. Beg, beg you little bird.
Yeah so, this conversation was going nowhere.
'Come on.' The hero continued.
'You'll find out soon enough.' I said calmly, not affected by his begging whatsoever.
'I'm on my knees.'
Now I turned my attention away from the wall I had been staring at to him.
For some reason he had decided to get down on his knees and beg some minutes back.
One word could describe how he looked right now.
Cute. Don suggested.
I was thinking along the lines of pitiful. I thought back.
Come on, you'se think hes cute too.
Yeah. Maybe. Sort of. . .
It doesn't matter.
. . .Maybe I should tell him.
No, no, no, sista, you are not breaking, we are not giving the man what he wants, mhmmmm.
His voice was muffled as I imagined him being dragged into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
'Robin.' I called him.
'Hrm!' He perked up.
At that moment, Batman decided to walk right through the door
.
'What do you want?' Robin groaned, getting up.
'We need to to talk.'
I back away slowly, seeing the heated glaring contest they were having, besides. It looked like something they needed to work out.
'We can talk about it here, with Shadow.' Robin said it slowly, as if The Batman couldn't understand English.
Here I was, trying not to get involved but this idiot bird, decided at the moment he said those words, to pull my stumbling self to his side.
My reaction?
'Umm, hello.' I said, acting cooler than I felt and sending a wave Batman's way, which he returned with a glare in my direction.
'No, this is something we need to discuss privately.'
Sensing this conversation was going somewhere ugly, I decided to try and free my wrist from Robin's vice-like grasp.
I tried. . .
Tugging.
Pulling.
Prying.
Hitting it constantly on the table.
His reaction?
'Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of her.'
I would have facepalmed, but I was currently using my free hand to repeatedly stab Robin's wrist with the pen.
But seriously Robin, way to bring the spotlight back to me.
Curse Kevlar. I thought, placing the pen back on the table, taking a seat on the chair, resigned, as I decided to wait for them to finish their 'discussion'.
What in the hell was his wrist made of? Steel?
Their argument continued and I decided to intervene when, Robin started the sentence...
'I hate-'
I stood up and gave him a good resounding slap, which echoed out through the room.
He stumbled back and his hand loosened around mine. I'm guessing it was from shock not pain, because I know I didn't hit him that hard.
'One,' I started, rubbing my wrist.
'Do that again, and I'll break your wrist.'
'Two, you two are supposed to be the dynamic duo, so where's your dynamic?' I asked both of them seriously.
They looked at each other.
'You have two options,' I said rubbing my chin in thought, 'either both of you make up, here and now, or I could knock both of you out, put you guys in a box, and drop it in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Your choice.'
'Shadow-' Robin started.
'No way, I'm not talking to you,' I pointed to Batman, 'or you, till you partners make up, so don't "Shadow" me.'
Robin kept staring at me oddly.
'Do you want me to throw you out?' I hissed.
'Okay, okay, I'm going! But just answer this question.' Robin said.
'Then will you leave?' I asked him.
He gave me a pointed look.
I shrugged indifferently. 'Shoot.'
'Why do you want me and Batman to make up so badly?'
'Because you're a dynamic. But most importantly he cares, so that's a plus, besides it's Batman and Robin, not temperamental dude in a bat-suit, and a tantruming teen who vanishes.'
At this point Batman had already vanished.
'Thank you.' Robin said quietly.
'For what?' I smirked.
'Giving me a nudge in the right direction.'
'Seriously, a nudge? It was more like strapping you onto a rocket and sending you into a rainbow, with countless walls preventing you but with me being an excellent pilot, I carefully navigating to land you safety by the rainbow, unharmed and unscathed.'
He elbowed me in the chest. 'Are you done now?'
'Ow, and, yes.' I answered slyly, rubbing the spot he hit.
'Robin!' Batman called from somewhere.
'I better go.'
'You better.'
'Yeah, before I wake up and I'm in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.' He teased.
'Oh you think I can't do it.' I said, a threat hidden in my words. And at that moment, he pulled a Robin and disappeared before my eyes.
I literally fell into my seat, covering my mouth as I yawned. 'That was too much work. . . And speaking of dynamics, I wonder how Slade is doing.'
××
'Where is she?' A deep voice growled and maniacal laughter followed as the Joker hunched over, laughing. And with a wheezing voice spoke.
'Haven't seen her! But, hahaha, rumor goes that the bat has her, hahaha.'
'Batman?' Deathstroke asked in surprise, sheathing his katana.
'I trust she knows what she's getting into.' He told himself as he took a step over one of Joker's minions sprawled across the floor.
'Sorry about your goons.'
'Ha-ha, no problem, they were too high maintenance anyway, ha!' The psychotic clown screamed, laughing himself into a coughing fit as he kicked his dead henchmen in the chest.
××
'Nah, I bet he's fine' Shadow laughed, pushing the thought aside.
××
Meanwhile. . .
As the dynamic duo was getting their dynamic back, Artemis was starting to wake up.
'Hm,' she groaned in her sleep.
'Artemis!!' M'gann called from beside the bed.
The archer winced.
'Keep it down.' Wally whisper-yelled.
'Ugh, what happened? I feel like I was hit by a bus.' She said, putting her hand on her head and pulling her body into a sitting position.
'Actually, Shadow knocked you out three hours ago, and Batman is currently in the process of interrogating a spanking hot Shade.' KidFlash said, pouring her a glass of water.
'Three hours. Batman. Shade.' She mumbled, getting up. 'I need to see Batman.'
'Artemis,' Kaldur said, supporting her. 'You should rest.'
'I need to tell Batman something very important.' she said, trying to get her point across.
Aqualad and KidFlash looked to their teammates for help.
'Batman is busy right now, maybe you should tell him another time?' Miss Martian tried.
'Trust me, he'll want to hear what I have to say.' Artemis said, pressing forward.
'Maybe you should rest first.' Conner suggested, stepping in front of her.
'Yeah, okay, I'll do that.' Artemis nodded, stepping back.
Superboy's shoulders relaxed as he walked to the others.
What do you think she wants to tell Batman. Superboy asked, somewhat concerned.
It sounded important, maybe we should inform him. Aqualad proposed, rubbing his chin in thought.
Yeah, maybe we should. M'gann agreed.
Wally was about to include something, when Artemis made a mad dash towards the door. And before anyone could stop her, was out the door.
××
'So you're saying that Shadow is only the leader of a division, which happens to be in Gotham. And that division is the smallest yet most elite of the divisions. And the Leader of the entire Deadly Nightshade as a whole, is behind them, while the leaders of the other divisions came from the Gotham division?' Robin asked flabbergasted.
'Exactly.' Batman replied, knowing how his protégé felt.
'Then how many divisions are there, and how large is The Deadly Nightshade, altogether?' Robin asked, out of breath.
'I'm not exactly sure,' Batman started. 'But I know someone who will be willing to tell us.'
He directed his gaze to interrogation room that held Shadow.
'Really?' Robin said, throwing his hands in the air, 'I barely got out of there alive, and now you want me to walk back in.'
'Yes.'
'What? You're not serious.' He said as his mentor dragged, literally dragged, him to Shadow.
At the same time, Artemis was also making her way to the very same interrogation room.
And this lovely writer made it so that Artemis, the teammates chasing after her, and the dynamic duo, entered the room just moments after each other.
'Artemis, wait!', M'gann called after her.
'What are you doing here?' Robin asked Artemis, surprised.
'Shadow is Deathstroke's apprentice! What are you doing here?'
'What?' Robin asked in disbelief.
Actually all the heroes in the room said "what" at same time, even The Batman, it was comical.
'I said what are you doing here. What are you, deaf ?' Artemis said sharply.
Shadow snapped her fingers, getting everyone's attention. 'Manners, Artemis.'
The blonde archer gritted her teeth, but stayed silent.
'Shadow is not the leader of The Deadly Nightshade.' Robin announced, breaking out of his previous stupor.
'What?' KidFlash gasped.
'Then who is she?' Conner asked.
'She is actually the leader of the division of the Nightshade, in Gotham.' He replied.
'What exactly do you mean by "division"?' Wally asked slowly.
The conversation continued, like Shadow didn't just reprimand Artemis like a puppy.
'What I mean is that-'
Shadow cut the boy wonder off.
'Look I know you are all practically dying, to get to know me. Yes, I was, am, and will forever be, Deathstroke's apprentice-glad that you remembered, by the way,' she flashed Artemis a smile, 'I am also the leader of the Gotham division as Robin so nicely put it.
'So what I recommend is that you leave me all alone, and go into a nice and comfortable room, for debriefing. Kapeesh?'
'Guys I think she's right.' Robin started.
'Yeah, I mean this place looks bloody awful.' Artemis continued for him.
Shadow laughed darkly. 'One, it's an interrogation room, not supposed to be nice looking. And two, leave!'
'We better leave before we all end up in the middle of the Atlantic ocean' Said Batman in a gruff voice, before he vanished.
The young heroes look at each other strangely.
'You guys wouldn't get it.' Robin said before he disappeared as well, joining his mentor wherever he decided to end up.
Shadow raised an eyebrow at the remaining team members.
'I think we should go.' Artemis mumbled, leaving the room.
'Yeah, we should probably-', KidFlash was next.
And like that, one by one, they filed out the interrogation room.
Shadow slumped in her chair rubbing her eyes.
Gawd, it's so hard to get some nappy tyme at the bottom of the sea, so whatdid aye mis.
I groaned and pressed two fingers to my forehead. Everything, Don. You missed the whole show.
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