"I just wanted to check on you," she purrs. My eyes narrow. I call bullshit. I want to say that to her as well. But, this is Sportsmaster's daughter. I insult her and she tells him... well it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Why are you really here," I ask. "The guards wouldn't let you up here for a playdate." She hums and begins to circle me slowly. I keep an eye on her the whole time but refuse to turn my body.

"You see," she begins, "there's an assassination that I may need help with. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to redeem yourself."

"You know as well as I do that I am not the one who gets to make that call," I tell her. Why is she here? There was no need for her to come here. I don't get to decide whether I go with her or not. That's Sportsmaster's decision. More than that, why is she asking for help. She's one of the Shadows' most capable assassins and she comes to me, the most unsuccessful one. Somethings not right here.

"Oh," she feigns disbelief. "Do they still not trust their precious little weapon all alone?" She's mocking me. I clench my jaw. Think. Slowly. Then speak.

"After the last incident, I have not been unaccompanied, no," I inform her. She hums again and then leans really close to my ear from behind me. I want to stab her.

"How unfortunate," she purrs, " I thought you proved yourself quite capable. Managing to get out alive. Even if you failed to achieve the objective. The very simple objective." Deep breath. Don't stab her. There are steps on the staircase. Quiet, for how heavy they are. Sportsmaster. Cheshire sighs in disappointment. "Looks like it's time for me to go," she tells me quietly. She brushes past me and leaves. Both hers and Sportsmaster's steps stop at the same time. I hear their voices, but I can't make out what they're saying. Their steps continue. Sportsmaster appears in the doorway. He scans me.

"What did she do," he asks suspiciously.

"Asked for help on her assassination," I reply. There's no need to lie. I see no reason for our conversation to be concealed. Even if she had done something wrong, I have no loyalty to her. His eyes narrow.

"Why," he questions.

"No idea for the real reason sir," I answer honestly, "however, she did say she thought it would be a way for me to redeem myself." His body tenses. It's a sore subject. He was brought under question. His reaction to my emergency beacon was slow. Horribly slow when I desperately needed help. Honestly, though, it wasn't his fault. But it wasn't mine either. We couldn't have known. He shouldn't have been there. I didn't even know he was real. I thought he was just some story, thought they all were. I thought wrong.

"Get down to the training room," my handler barks after a long moment of silence.

"Yes sir," comes the automatic response.

(Timeskip)

Sportsmaster bursts into the training room, where I've been for the last few hours, and I suppress a flinch. My stance wobbles. I was stretching. Deep stretching that can be rather painful. My handler insisted that I be flexible and acrobatic... while the original training sucked I admit it's useful to be physically flexible when stealing things. Acrobatic moves have also become a big part of my fighting technique.

"Change now, we have an urgent mission. Meet me in the chopper in five minutes," he snaps. I quickly get back to a regular standing position and begin walking quickly out of the room.

"Yes sir," I mumble as I shoot by him and to my room. I change quickly, only slowing to ensure I don't poke my own eyes out when I put my contacts in. Pulling my hood up to cover my hair I head to the chopper to meet up with my handler. He's not usually this irritated when a new mission pops up. What is this mission anyway? It must not be anything good since he's so pissed about it. I slide into the front seat with around a minute left. I'm handed my pistol. "Thank you, sir."

"You remember how to fly this thing right," he asks gruffly.

"Yes sir, I do," I reply.

"Good, you're piloting then. We're going to Taipei. Cheshire has managed to get herself caught by the police forces there and the sidekick Speedy. We're to get her out and help finish the mission," he explains. I happily take control of the helicopter. Piloting is one of the best things to do. I get to fly through the air, it feels so very free. If it weren't for my angry handler sitting next to me. Wait...I thought Speedy wasn't going by that anymore.

"Sir," I begin to ask, flying the chopper smoothly in the direction of our destination, "hasn't Speedy stopped being a sidekick? I heard he was going by Red Arrow now?"

"And where exactly did you hear anything about the sidekick," he asks in a way that I tense slightly.

"The guards do talk sir," I explain, "and the doctors, sometimes in my lessons they include current events." He gives me a look. The flight is mostly silent for the rest of the journey. I'm perfectly happy with that. In brief moments I can pretend that I am flying away from everything, instead of flying to help an assassin that I hate. It's quiet until we reach Taipei, then Sportsmaster gives me exact directions to where Cheshire is being held.

I stay close to the building where Cheshire is, where my handler is now. He's probably placing the explosives right about now. I look across the city. I could fly away right now. I mean Sportsmaster left me alone while flying a helicopter. I could. I hear the explosion and bring the chopper back around to the spot that is the target pick-up. I see them running across the rooftops, Red Arrow at their heels. He only slows them momentarily. I lower the chopper so that they can get in.

"Go! Go!," my handler commands the moment they're both in. I already planned on it. The chopper lifts from the rooftop and out of Red's reach. I hear something hit the side of the helicopter and glance to see Red's hooked an arrow to our side and is dangling by a rope. Dumbass.

"Are you even trying to ditch this guy," Sportsmaster demands at Cheshire.

"I really hate to admit it," I hear Cheshire say, "but she has a point." I'm guessing she cut the line Red was hanging onto. Hopefully, he survives his fall but doesn't come after us again. I doubt he'll do the latter. I shake my head and continue to our next destination.

I land in a courtyard. The building, I have to admit, is beautiful, so is the courtyard. I hop out of the helicopter and follow close behind my handler. I try not to make it obvious as I scan my surroundings. I know this is property of the Shadows but I can't remember if I've ever been here. I think I might have, but I'm not sure. It's familiar but it's also new. Maybe it just looks like another Shadow base that I've been to.

"Because I'm professional, I won't kill you," Cheshire snarls at Sportsmaster. I roll my eyes. They're not looking at me and my contacts would make the movement hard to see anyways. "At least now while we're on the job."

"You wouldn't have this job if not for me," my handler growls, "Grow up already."

"The evening's agenda was to create strife between nations," a familiar voice speaks from the shadow of the doorway in front of us. Cheshire drops to a knee, I debate doing the same. Ra's Al Ghul steps out of the doorway. "Not my assassins," he finishes. I bow my head in his presence.

"Master," Cheshire says as she too bows her head.

"And Client," he responds. "So twice disappointed in your failure. Luthor has been a thorn in my side for too long. And peaceful countries rarely call upon the League of Shadows." The hair on the back of my neck stands up. I slowly begin to look around. Someone is watching. I doubt it's the martian. "So I expect a better outcome," he tells Cheshire and my handler, "and less interference from that boy." I turn to see Red. I knew he would be a dumbass and keep chasing Cheshire. Probably had a tracker on the chopper. I pull out a staff and extend it. The sound and feeling satisfying. Red stands and knocks an arrow. It flies at Ra's and I quickly step in between. The arrow hits my staff and I stay in the defensive stance that I slid into. I'm sure Ra's has disappeared into the shadows behind me. A look from my handler tells me to stay put. I do, even though I really rather fight Red. He seems fun. The size of his arms is a bit ridiculous though. Could probably hold me down quite easily, if I wanted him to at the time, anyways. I blink. What? Why would I even? I shake my head and try to focus.

Cheshire runs towards Red, who jumps down to the lower roof. I hear him grunt from the impact. Amature, honestly. Roll don't do the superhero landing thing that Superman started. He finds his balance on the slanted roof and knocks another arrow as he runs towards the courtyard. He misses Cheshire, twice, as she runs at him. She kicks off one of the statues in the courtyard to get up onto the roof Red is on. Red kneels and turns to face her before she lands. He fires at her, she dodges the first and has to use her Sais to knock away the second and third arrows. Red reaches for his quiver once more, standing as he goes. Cheshire cries out as she goes to strike him. He back handsprings away, firing another arrow. Cheshire narrowly dodges this one, it cuts some of her hair. He's an impressive fighter. It's unfortunate for him that I'm pretty sure he's lost track of Sportsmaster in this fight. Speak of the devil. He sends a metal discus at Red. Cheshire moves out of the way, giving Red just enough time to raise his bow, which breaks on impact. The discus continues and breaks part of the building behind him. Ra's will not be pleased that they're destroying his buildings.

I don't hear what's said, but something must have been. Red goes completely still. He's not even in a defensive stance. What is happening? I stand where I am for what seems like a long time. Sportsmaster and Cheshire are doing something to Red. I don't know what. I know that it can't be good. The hell did they do to him? After a long while, Sortsmaster and Cheshire go back to the positions they were in when Red froze. Red goes back into a defensive stance, Cheshire moves in on him slowly. I narrow my eyes. Red has no idea that he just froze? He tilts his head down and then looks back up at Cheshire. She's completely relaxed and waving at him. Sportsmaster throws a staff that Red steps back to avoid. It explodes against the roof and Red uses the chance to dive off the roof into the water that I know is behind it. Sportsmaster heads back in my direction and after a long moment so does Cheshier. I fall into step behind my handler. What just happened?

I sigh quietly in boredom as I wait next to Sportsmaster in the helicopter, that I didn't even get to fly. We're just waiting for an explosion or something from Cheshire so we can fly up to the building and get in to help her fight. I hear the explosion rock the building above. Finally. The chopper begins to go up towards the newly formed hole in the building. I pull out two extendable escrima sticks as the side door of the chopper is slid open by one of the ten henchmen with us. Tseng calls out something to his guards but the language is one I don't really recognize, let alone speak. The guards charge forward as the henchmen do the same. I follow behind Sportmaster who is moving slowly, taunting the guards who stand defiantly before us. Cheshire does a high backflip and blocks an arrow that was headed for Sportsmaster.

"Take Sportsmaster and Demon, Cheshire's mine," I hear Red tell a dark-skinned Atlantian that I recognize quickly as Aqualad.

"So territorial, and only our third date," Cheshire taunts. Really? Dates? I roll my eyes and get into a defensive stance as Aqualad vaults over Cheshire, doing a nice flip before landing solidly and running at me. My escrima sticks clash against his...water swords? Ok, that's a cool trick.

"Sup fish boy," I ask.

"I suggest that you stand down Demon, I do not wish to hurt a child," he replies. Aw, sweet. I chuckle darkly.

"It's not me that's going to get hurt," I tell him. He's stronger than me. I'll give him that. I can't hold his swords back in this block for much longer. I think he knows it too as he begins to press down harder. I lash out at him with my right foot. He wasn't expecting that. It connects solidly with his abdomen. I hear the grunt despite his efforts to hide it. He backs up. We both stare at each other. We both have our weapons at the ready. We both are trying to figure out the next move. I grin despite no one else being able to see it. "You know, Red and Chesh, they consider these things dates," I inform him. His momentary glance is all I need.

In that second I launch myself up at him. My foot was going to connect with his face, but he is good. My foot connects with one of his swords instead. I roll back as I land, just in time to miss the other sword that tried to get acquainted with me. As soon as I'm back on my feet I rush at him again, dodging his sword and landing a good hit on his side. I'm forced to move back to avoid his swords once again. My eyes narrow at him. He is actually really good at this. This could be fun. Or go bad. Let's see. Pulling a knife from its holster I throw it towards his throat. He brings his swords together in an x shape and successfully blocks the knife. It doesn't block me. My foot hits the same spot my escrima stick did. He winces. Before I can get back out of his range I'm forced into the same sword on escrima lock as before.

"You are admittedly a good fighter," I mumble.

"I can say the same for you," he responds before his eyes widen. I release the lock, one of his swords graze my side as I spin and bring my escrima sticks up just in time to block the butt of a guard's pistol. I growl at him before twisting the escrimas, taking his gun out of his grip. I then quickly send a kick to his side and then his face meets my escrima stick in an unfriendly way and he's sent off to dreamland. I turn to continue my fight with the swordsmen only to see him fighting my handler with maces. I shrug and rush at the guard closest to me. He's easy to take down. One down, like twenty or something to go.

I take somewhere around a dozen of the guards around the room out. None of them present a challenge and I kinda wish I was still fighting the Atlantean. I launch myself off of a wall and land a kick to another guard's skull. He goes down before he knows what hit him. I roll as I land, stopping not far from where Sportsmaster and Aqualad are fighting.

"Aqualad let's end this," I hear Red growl. There's a small explosion. The sprinklers turn on and I feel my eye twitch. Had to go and get everyone wet huh? Glancing over I see Aqualads tattoos begin to glow to an almost white color. That doesn't seem good. The shallow water from the sprinklers rises into a twister and becomes a serpent. That is very not good. The serpent begins charging and taking down the henchmen that are still standing. I flip behind Sportsmaster as Cheshire lands in front of him and throws something into the mouth of the serpent. The serpent drops and the water splashes around us. Smoke from Cheshire's bomb covers the area. I follow Sportsmaster and Cheshire as they use this cover to leave the fight. Ra's will not be pleased. I smirk. Looks like Cheshire might have to redeem herself now. The smirk slips off my face. However, something was off about this whole thing. It's quite possible that tonight went just as Ra's planned.