CHAPTER FIFTEEN: "Thanks, Little Bird"
THERE WERE TWO ASSASSINS CLOSE TO HAPPY HARBOR THAT NIGHT. One was considered active and high ranked, whereas the other one was personally hand picked by Talia Al Ghul herself, one that she took in after finding them alone, no home nor family. The heir to the Demon's Head thought that the assassin would be well on their way to becoming one of the best in the League of Shadows, their age never once affected how high they ranked.
Silently, the hooded one dressed in traditional League of Shadows wear leaped onto the tall fence, scaling the height before jumping back down. Miss Martian and Artemis didn't even notice her dark figure being concealed by the darkness, too busy with their own mental conversation to notice. They didn't even pick up on the faint rattle their quiver gave as they touched down to the ground.
As the handpicked assassin stalked through the halls of the school building, they drew the bow over their shoulders and slid an arrow into the drawstring. Their footsteps were silent as the crept through the hallways before freezing, spotting the correct room down the end, unguarded due to the fact the the speedster was taken care of by the other assassin.
Silently, the assassin stepped towards the door, peeking through the slight opening, and swiftly raising the bow and arrow. Accuracy was usually this assassin's forté, but they didn't account for the Atlantean guarding Roquette.
The arrow dug into his skin as he swiftly push the doctor out of the way and took the hit.
"Hm, heroic," came a hollow voice, the tone of it easily giving away that it was a girl, and judging by the height, a young one. "These arrows are quite sharpened, that had to have hurt."
"Atlantean skin is quite dense," Aqualad responded, taking his water bearers out of their individual holsters, the oceanic shade lighting up the darkened room.
The girl didn't respond that time, drawing another arrow and firing it at the Team's elected leader, who quickly swiped it away, not expecting the younger fighter to lunge forward. Her black bow slashed forward, colliding with the oceanic sword whilst forcing him back slowly.
She avoided each attack with ease, bouncing up and flipping back to avoid being slashed by the blade. "Do you wanna come out now?" She snapped as she deflected another slash, the drawstring of her bow whipping Aqualad leg. The Atlantean yelled out in pain, a graze instantly becoming visible across his skin. Atlantean skin may be dense, but it isn't impenetrable.
Two shurikens came soaring through the door, the whizzing sound they made as they cut through the air making the assassin duck before flicking her head back up to see them dig into Aqualad's arm. Cheshire soon emerged, peeking her head around the corner and instantly causing the Doctor to cower further away from the two.
"Two against one," Cheshire spoke with her sickly sweet tone as she stalked into the computer lab, two different sai nestled in her grasp. "What shall you do now, Atlantean?"
Thinking he was distracted by the two pieces of arsenal in his skin, the assassin flicked her arm out, a small knife flying out from under her sleeve. It's blade shimmered under the rays of moonlight casting through the windows, handle having an dominating engraving traced over it. Spotting the blade, Aqualad throws out his left arm, his water bearer constructing a large wall to deflect the weapon but a green arrow beat it. The blade was smacked to the ground, tinging loudly against the slick tilling.
Turning on their heels, Cheshire and the assassin met the gaze of the newest teammate. "Don't move," Artemis gritted out, an arrow strung in her bow.
A faint chuckle leaves Cheshire's lips. "This gig's getting interesting."
The younger assassin draws an arrow, pointing it at Aqualad as Cheshire faced Artemis. She drew a collapsible sword, swinging it around her fingers tauntingly before holding it beside her defensively.
But before either of them moved, Kid Flash and Miss Martian also joined the party, entering the room at rapid pace and standing defensively in front of Roquette.
"Maybe a little too interesting..." Cheshire observed.
"I can take all of them within seconds," the assassin hissed through gritted teeth, adding two more arrows to her bow and holding them beside each other as she pulled the string back.
Cheshire shook her head though, grabbing onto the younger girl's forearm. "Time to vanish, Myth," she insisted, despite knowing that Talia Al Ghul's prized pupil could handle the young heroes. She threw a handful of smoke pellet to the ground, and when the thick cloud of smoke vanished, so did the two assassins.
Cheshire did not want to risk the handpicked assassin being hurt or otherwise she'd risk the rath of, not only Talia, but the Demon's Head himself. Ra's Al Ghul also admired the girl's loyalty and skill, immediately offering to take her in when Talia brought her to Nanda Parbat. The Myth had protection from two of the most dangerous people on the planet, and Cheshire was not going to risk getting in the middle of that.
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PHILADELPHIA
August 8th, 22:57 EDT
"ROBIN TO AQUALAD." The Boy Wonder's voice shatters the silence that had swallowed them in the Bioship, the vehicle gliding silently and only emphasising the silence encasing them. "We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target, S.T.A.R Labs."
Leaning forward, Katherine's eyes widened as she spotted the building that was suspected to be the next target. It crumbled seemingly by nothing, the surrounding area becoming damaged as the building fell apart, nothing but thick layer of fog emerging from the rubble. She easily picked up on the strong wind like sound it left behind it.
A heavy sigh passed Katherine's lips as she sunk in her seat, arms crossed. "We're too late." She successfully managed to isolate her hearing too, zoning in on the destroyed building to hear absolutely nothing. "No survivors," she stated sadly, glancing at Superboy who shared the same solemn expression.
Robin is stunned by the efficiency and completeness of the fog. "It's destroyed, totally destroyed."
Superboy's shares their shock. "The Fog decimated it."
The Bioship continued to silently through the air and over the rubble. "This is bad. STAR Labs is cutting-edge science, and now their secrets are in the hand of the enemy," Robin listed, a bit of anger starting to show through his words and tone.
The three of them all share an anxious glance before Robin spoke up and asked the question on all of their minds. "What's our next move?"
"Rescan for that fog. Find it," Kaldur instructed, an inch of pain visible in his tone, originating from the battle with the unnamed assassin and Cheshire. "We're moving the doctor."
As the team in the Bioship moved forward, the Team on ground successfully moved the doctor away, whilst placing another decoy (M'gann mimicking Roquette's appearance to distract the assassins).
At the front of the ship, Katherine closed her eyes and let go of a heavy sigh as she tried to use her super-hearing to find the fog. She pushed past the sounds of traffic, singing birds and chattering citizens, trying to focus on a powerful wind current that could be associated with the fog. She knew she was grasping at straws with this attempt, but it was worth trying her new ability.
She couldn't locate a strong breeze that was associated with it, but she did find the sound of waves crashing against a shoreline, causing her to sigh, finding the sound relaxing compared to the chaos surrounding her. When she's old enough, Katherine already decided she wanted to move to somewhere like Happy Harbor or Coast City to be close to the beach.
"Katherine!"
Superboy and Robin's abrupt yells snapped her from her thoughts, making her immediately sit up straighter spinning her seat to face them. "Wha-what? Sorry... Zoned out..."
"You okay?" Robin suddenly asked as Superboy simply watched silently.
Katherine nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a bit scary thinking of the fact I'm in high school now, " she laughed anxiously, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "Sorry... I'm getting distracted."
"No, uh... It's okay," Robin tried to reasurre, leaning forward in his seat at the pilot seat before sinking bacl. The awkwardness despite going unnoticed by the Girl of Steel and Boy Wonder, Superboy rolled his eyes, easily picking up on it. "You've handle being Superman's sidekick, I'm sure High School can't amount to that."
A small smile faded onto Katherine's lips. "Thanks, Little Bird."
A clear and extremely visible pink tinge faded onto Robin's cheeks. "Yeah... Uh... No worries."
"God, you two are oblivious," Superboy muttered as he leant on the dashboard beside him, not even Katherine picking up on it as her focus was entirely on Robin.
Cracking the awkward silence, his wrist computer suddenly beeped, making Robin straighten up in his seat, looking down at his wrist. "The next target's a WayneTech Facility." His shock is evident in his tone as the camouflaged Bioship comes to a halt just outside the building. "In theory, it's system software could be used to hack the-" he cut himself off, attempting to not expose too much secret information that Bruce entrusted him with.
Both Kryptonians exchanged an odd look. "The what?" Superboy asked for the both expectantly.
"Doesn't matter." Robin attempted to brush off. "Wh-what matters is WayneTech operates a 24-hour workforce. We'll never evacuate the building in time." Katherine knew that even she couldn't get everyone out, super speed and all.
Slowly, the Bioship descended in a car park, still hovering in the air as the hatch slowly shifted open, giving the trio and exit point.
"It's downloading," Robin informed the two Kryptonians as he watched the progress increase on his hologlove.
Katherine proceeded to tap her foot impatiently, hating the fact they were just standing around. She wanted to be doing something to help, but she followed instructions nonetheless.
"Don't need it!" Superboy suddenly growled, leaping out of the Bioship and to the parking lot below.
Ignoring Robin's cry of his name, one that consisted of a warning tone, Superboy lands in front of what looked like a cyclops climbing out of a van. He went to charge at the cyclops but was knocked back by a red laser beam, powerful enough to seemingly knock that clone unconscious.
The cyclops turned back to the container and releases the Fog, causing the Kryptonian and Boy Wonder to yell out a panicked "no!"
"Tell me where you need to go," Katherine blurted out, glancing at her teammate who pointed to the entrance of the WayneTech building.
Katherine swiftly flew them through the entry point the Fog had chew out, her hands positioned under Robin's armpits to give her a secure grip. She was unsure how fast to move, attempting to give them space between the Fog to be safe whilst managing to keep up with ease.
The security guard at the front desk can only watch the cloud of fog go past before he had to do a double take when the Girl of Steel and Boy Wonder flew past, shouting that they shouldn't be in there.
The gated doors in front of them slowly started to drop in an attempt to block them off. "WayneTech override- RG4," Robin called out, the override code stopping the blockade and sending it back up. Katherine murmured an apology as Robin grunted, skidding across the floor before being lifted up again.
She followed his direction, gliding up a staircase and following the specific ways he pointed before they eventually entered a cafeteria. As Robin squirmed in her grasp, Katherine dropped him, watching as he headed to the closest desktop and connected it to his wrist computer.
"What's going on?" a woman asked, staring warily at the roof as the building begins to shake. She then noticed Robin attach the cord to the computer. "What are you doing?"
"Ignore him," Katherine quickly cut in, following her stare and quickly diving up to push a slab of concrete back into place as it started to shift dangerously. "Get out of here."
The woman soon scrambled off as she started to notice the danger, leaving the two young heroes to hopefully save WayneTech. "Heat vision would be great right about now," Katherine muttered, thinking of the many times she watched Superman melt pieces of rubble together and secured it.
Robin ignored her, fingers gliding swiftly across his wrist computer as he glided through WayneTech's security systems and firewalls. "Please be linked to the mainframe. Please be linked to the mainframe."
Katherine winced as she felt more weight be placed on her shoulder, the injuries from the Regin copycat beginning to make an appearance as the throbbed. But she didn't let it stop her. Lifting the slab, she placed it evenly across the floor above so bits weren't hanging off and making it weigh an overwhelming amount on either side.
"How much longer!" she shouted, but he didn't have to answer as the Fog Cloud swirling around WayneTech began to dissipate. "Oh my god, does that mean—"
"Yes!" Robin cheered, answer her question and grinning up at her. "The infiltrators have been outfiltrated!"
Katherine didn't respond, instead having her infamous grin reside on her face as she flew down and hugged her friend tightly, missing the blush arising as he hugged her back.
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NANDA PARBAT
August 9th, 01:30 EDT
THE HANDPICKED ASSASSIN'S JAW CLENCHED, HAND TWITCHING TO SNATCH AN ARROW FROM HER QUIVER AS SHE STANDS IN FRONT OF TALIA AL GHUL.
"You're still reckless," she stated, unphased by the younger girl's stern look and threatening stance. "That is why Cheshire benched you during the second encounter."
"You know I could have taken them all out, Talia."
The heir to the demon nodded, crouching down so she could be eye level with the youngest assassin ever enrolled into the League. Her hands rested on the dirty blonde girl's shoulder after she slid the mask off her student's face. "You said you'd let me help you. Three years ago when I found you in that... Facility... Remember? This is me doing that."
Talia's finger tentatively grazed over the scar positioned under the girl's right eye, one that had faded in the past eight years but was still incredibly visible. She felt the younger girl flinch back from her touch, slapping the hand away. The image of the girl's bloodshot and fear filled eyes was burned into Talia's mind, and each time she saw her student, the image would resurface. She'd remember the blood trickling out of the corner of her eye as she squirmed in the bounds securing her to the metal chair, pleading for Talia to go and her previous mentor to show up.
"I know you're eager to kill him," Talia added as she stood, motioning for her student to follow her into the League of Shadows' temple, leading her to their designated training room which Ra's had offered when the young girl was brought to the League. "But you are not ready for that. And if you keep acting this way, he will be able to end you before the battle has even begun."
She shut the large doors behind them once her student was inside, already holsting her bow on the stand and dumping the quiver near it.
Talia's gaze passed over her student for a moment before her fingers grazed over one of the swords hung on the wall. "You cannot run into a battle without a plan and without knowing your opponent."
The younger girl practically snarled. "I was stuck with him for five years, I'm pretty sure I know him extremely—" The whizzing sound of a blade slicing through the air filled the youger assassin's ears and interrupted her. Her head whipped around before she leant back, pressing her hands to the floor into a backbend before flinging her body upright again. Her eyes focused on the knife that stabbed into the wall behind her before back to Talia.
"Deathstroke won't wait for you to be ready," Talia insisted, sliding another sword from the rack and watching her student do the same. "You must be quick, organised and ready for anything, Myth. Only then will you be ready to leave the nest. Trust me."
"I don't trust," the Myth seethed, spinning her own sword delicately around her fingers, fighting stance actively being shown. "Five years of being his sidekick only to be betrayed, I learnt that trust will only lead to pain and that it won't ever benefit me in the long run. It's unnecessary."
Talia didn't respond.
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MOUNT JUSTICE
August 8th, 01:57 EDT
"SO WHILST WE WERE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH A FOG, YOU GUYS WERE GETTING BEAT BY ASSASSINS?"
The Team stood in Wally's designated 'treasure room' as the speedster placed two knew souvenirsnon the shelves, Cheshire's mask and a League of Shadows sword.
Artemis pursed her lips, hand rested on her hips as she recalled the fights before nodding. "There was also some spider guy and one that had a hook for a hand."
Katherine snorted out a laugh. "So, Captain Hook is real? Sick!"
"In that case, Spider-Man and the Cheshire Cat are also real," Wally added with a chuckle. "Fictional worlds are beginning to collide."
"Um... What's the Cheshire Cat and what's a Spider-Man?" M'gann spoke timidly, confused by the words and unsure if it was something she should have knowledge of. Her first assumption was some type of alien spieces, but she knew the difference between fiction and non-fiction, she just had never heard of make believe characters with these names.
At her question, Katherine's face immediately dropped. "Wait, you haven't seen Spider-Man or Alice in Wonderland yet?" a tinge of eagerness laced her tone, happily prepared to sit down and watch both movies with her friend, she thought they were incredible. Then again, she thought most movies were cinematic masterpieces, except for the ones that were made of the Justice League. Those ones were just weird, especially the one where Supergirl was featured, and Katherine absolutely hated the way they portrayed her.
M'gann's eyebrows furrowed together, shaking her head slowly. "No... Should I have?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about either," Superboy spoke up, taking some of the attention away from the Martian girl.
"Oh, you're gonna love it," Artemis happily added, a bright smile upon her lips.
"I just got the best idea!" Katherine suddenly cheered, bouncing up and staying in the air with her hands pressed together. "Batman is always talking about how we should spend more time together so... How about a Team movie night? Alice in Wonderland and Spider-Man included, those are my choices."
"I choose Jurassic Park!" Wally perked up as he ran out of the room. "And I'm getting popcorn!" his yell could only just be heard as he disappeared from sight.
"Well then..." Robin began, resting his hands on his hips, laughing. "What are we waiting for?"
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A/N:
The Myth's story is the next one in this story, and spoiler alert, its centred around Jason Todd
She's also like one of my favourite OCs, so... I hope you liked this intro, even though you still know like nothing about her lol