FIVE YEARS AGO,

GUANGZHOU WAS A busy city. Busy enough that no one seemed even slightly confused at the Wasian teenage boy and the younger Chinese girl chasing after him. They blended right into the background of the city.

And a part of Odile was acutely aware that she was only around an hour or so drive away from Hong Kong.

If she wanted to, she could hop onto a train and she'd be in Hong Kong by the end of the hour. She could go back to Remiel, and they could go back to their usual routine, and everything would be alright, but she wouldn't do that because she still had a mission to complete.

Odile wasn't sure how Damian had gotten a hotel room booked, but somehow, he had. One room. She wasn't sure how well they passed for brother and sister, but the hotel staff didn't seem to question it. Or perhaps it was the huge wad of cash Damian had shoved in their hands.

Two beds. But Damian still looked a bit awkward. "I hope you don't mind."

She sent him an exasperated look. "You used to camp on my bedroom floor."

That seemed to calm him a bit. "That's true. We won't be here for long anyways."

"Have you ever been to Guangzhou?"

"Twice. You?"

"A bit more than that. Sometimes, criminals in Hong Kong flee here, so Remiel and I have to cross the border to chase them down." She yawned. "Are we going to find Nian Ruiwen tonight? Or tomorrow?"

"She works night shifts. She's a nurse. I was thinking we should head over to hers when she gets off work."

"You're going to scare the shit out of her."

"She'll be exhausted. Easy to get information out of."

Odile glanced at him, eyes narrowed. "You're evil."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you want answers or what?"

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, I'm just saying that you're pure evil for coming up with this."

Damian blinked. "It's basic interrogation tactics."

"Thank you, Damian. But not everyone receives an education on how to interrogate people." Odile yawned. "So we have time until tonight, then? When does she leave her night shift?"

"I hacked the hospital records, she usually gets off at three in the morning. It takes her around forty-five minutes to get home."

"And how long is it from here to her apartment?"

Damian grunted. "You know you can search up this information by yourself, right?"

"I can. I could investigate everything by myself if I wanted to, but you're here and you're making my life easier." She flashed him a grin as she flopped onto her bed. "So, how far away are we?"

"Fifteen minutes on foot."

"Let's leave at three, then. Give us some time to get ready. Break in. All that stuff."

"I didn't bring my Robin suit."

"I didn't bring my Cygnet suit either," Odile said with a shrug. "We're not here as Robin and Cygnet. I'm here as Yu Lan of the Eyu Sect, you're here as... my help. I suppose. My assistant."

"The assistant who's been running the entire investigation."

"Get used to it, Damian."

He seemed to have decided it was pointless to argue. Instead, he turned towards the window. "I haven't sensed anyone trailing us yet."

"Neither have I." Odile tilted her head. "No one's following us from the plane, that's for sure. I'd have noticed by now."

"No one's been paying too much attention to either of us. But if someone starts looking, it'll be trivially easy to locate us. We're both conspicuous."

"Let's get this over with quickly," Odile said quietly. "Seraphina gave me three months."

"You haven't even reached the first month yet."

"I want to get as much done as possible within these three months. God knows when's the next time I'll be able to do this." She rubbed her forehead. "What about you, when this is all done? Are you going to go back to Gotham?"

He glanced at her. "It's either that or Nanda Parbat."

"But you won't go to your mother."

He was silent for a moment. "No. No, I won't."

"Do you want to go back to Gotham?"

"Not yet."

She sat upright, crossing her legs before her. "Seraphina gave me three months. I'll give you three months too, Damian. Three months and you make up your mind. You're sixteen, you're old enough to make up your mind."

He glanced back at her. His hair was a little messy from sleeping on the plane, and he looked a bit more tired than he usually did. At sixteen, he was starting to look more and more like Bruce, though he was still leaner than Bruce's intimidating physique.

She was staring at him again. She didn't care if he noticed, actually. She'd make up some excuse. It was winter, but it never got cold in Guangzhou, so he was in a black t-shirt, the red jacket he'd been wearing now draped across one of the chairs.

At one point, Odile had quietly wondered to herself if she found him so attractive only because her exposure to boys her age was limited. But no. She'd attended around a month of school, and no one there compared to him. They all felt so immature and stupid, even the boys in the older years. There was no one like Damian Wayne.

"Most people would say sixteen is still too young to make any life-changing decisions."

Odile shrugged casually. "You're not most people. Neither am I. Most people haven't gone through the things we have."

"Do you think you're old enough to make life-changing decisions?"

"Whether or not I'm old enough is one thing. I'm making them anyways, am I not?"

A smile tugged at his lips. "Fair point. Age hasn't stopped people from putting us in difficult situations."

"Neither of us are supposed to drive a car. At least not legally. And look at us. We're not even supposed to be able to live here in this hotel by ourselves. God knows what the hotel staff think we're doing here."

"A young couple eloping, running away? But you look too young for that."

She stuck out her tongue. "They probably think you're kidnapping me."

"Now, I look too young for that."

"But you're a foreigner."

"I'm a quarter Chinese."

"You think the staff can see that?"

"I can speak fluent Mandarin."

"This is pointless," she announced loudly. "I think I'm going to sleep for a bit."

"You do that." Damian tilted his head. "I'll see if we can get takeaway. I'll wake you up when food gets here."

"Wake me up when you're ordering. You don't know what I like."

"I think I do. If there's char siu, I'll get you char siu. If there isn't... anything with meat that isn't sweet and sour works."

Odile narrowed her eyes. Damian just shrugged.

"Right." Odile huffed. "I'm going to sleep now."

—

"ARE WE SCALING the walls?" Odile glanced up, trying to mark which window was the best point of entry into Nian Ruiwen's apartment. "Wouldn't it be easier to get ourselves up on one of these roofs first?"

"The window in that stairwell isn't locked. See? It's partly open." Damian tilted his head. "I don't feel like breaking any windows tonight."

"We're picking her apartment lock, then?"

"Of course. Easiest way around it."

"I'm picking that lock." Odile wrinkled her nose. "Time to start climbing, I suppose."

"Too high a jump for you to make?"

"That's seven floors up, of course it's too high. And I don't have a platform to land on."

Grappling hook seemed to be the most sensible option in the end. A few seconds and they were both in. Nian Ruiwen's apartment was on the fifth floor, so they headed down the stairs in silence.

Damian quickly disabled the security camera in the corridor. Odile headed to the door once that was done and began picking the lock in silence.

Click. The door swung open.

They were in.

The lights were off. Nian Ruiwen was off at work as usual. She'd be back in around half an hour with a surprise on her hands. But first, the two of them quickly scouted the apartment.

Damian met her in the living room after a few minutes, shaking his head. "Not a single weapon in sight. Nothing akin to a secret compartment either."

In a quieter voice, Odile said, "She's left the life behind."

"I assume that's why she's alive."

Ruiwen was making a decent living for herself. The apartment was cleanly furnished, the type of place that a young woman living alone would keep. No sign of any sort of partner. Only one pair of slippers left out. All items on display were decidedly feminine, except for the single piece of men's shirt hanging on the balcony.

Damian raised a brow at that.

Odile explained quickly. "A lot of young women who live alone in China put a few pieces of men's clothing or shoes on display. Usually helps ward off thieves and the like."

He gave a nod. "That makes sense. I don't suppose it works well, though."

"From what I've seen, no. The thieves have begun to catch on."

"I'd make us tea," Damian sighed, motioning to the tea set Ruiwen had on her table, "but we're both wearing masks that cover the bottom half of our face."

"Inconvenient, is it not? I'm not thirsty anyways." Odile tilted her head. "I suppose we could place ourselves on that sofa? That'll give her a good scare."

"And you say I'm the evil one?"

"Where else are we supposed to go? Step out of her bedroom or bathroom or kitchen? That'll terrify her just as much. We're two figures dressed in black from head to toe, and you're clearly armed. I'm sure she'll be fine."

And so they waited. Odile got bored enough that she managed to convince Dick into playing mental chess with her, but they both stopped when they heard the sound of footsteps outside the corridor.

And then, the click of key against lock.

The door swung open and light spilled in. But the sofa was just out of sight from the doorway, so Ruewen entered and shut the door behind her without noticing them. Then, she snapped on the lights.

A couple more steps forward, and then...

"Shen me dong xi?"

What the fuck?

Odile waved. "Ruewen. Long time no see."

Ruewen opened her mouth to scream, but Damian was there in an instant, clamping his hand over her mouth. Odile sighed. "It's me. Yu Lan. From the Eyu Sect, remember? We're not here to hurt you, I just want to ask some questions. Can you promise not to scream if he takes away his hand?"

It took a long moment, but Ruewen finally nodded. Damian lowered his hand suspiciously, still keeping careful watch of Ruewen.

She looked much the same as she did as a teenager. Odile hadn't known her well enough to notice anything detailed. But it was most definitely Nian Ruewen. They absolutely had the right person.

Ruewen glanced at the two of them warily. "If you're Yu Lan, who's this?"

"Just a friend." Odile did her best to look friendly despite the mask covering the bottom half of her face. "I just want to ask some questions. Won't you sit down?"

"How did you even get in?"

"We picked your lock."

Ruewen swore under her breath. "Cao, I knew I should have gotten a better lock."

"A better lock wouldn't have kept us out either." Damian decided he would be straight to the point today and miserly with his words. Fine. She'd do the talking.

"Ruewen, do you know who was behind the attack on the sect?"

"I wasn't there at the time, it's why I survived."

"I know that. But what happened afterwards? How did you know the sect was destroyed?"

"My grandfather hadn't heard anything from the sect in weeks. He used to get a message from them at least once a week." Ruewen squeezed her eyes shut. "He knew something was wrong. We couldn't contact anyone in the sect. We waited a couple weeks before travelling there. Absolute carnage. The amount of bodies..."

Odile tried not to imagine it. She tried to block out the images from her head. "Do you have any clues as to who it may have been?"

Ruewen shook her head. "My grandfather spent the rest of his life trying to figure that out. I kept his files, if you want them." She paused for a moment. "Yu Lan, how are you alive? Like, I don't mean to be offensive, but surely you'd have been one of the first people they targeted?"

"They hid me. Along with a lot of the other kids. But most of them panicked and tried to make an escape. I stayed put."

Ruewen sucked in a deep breath. "I lost everything that night. You did too, I suppose."

"We all did."

"Are you looking for revenge?"

"Of course. But I need to know who my enemy is first."

Ruewen looked up, glancing warily at Damian. "Looks like you have help."

"I've made friends along the way."

"I stopped training after my grandfather passed away." Ruewen shook her head. "He insisted I continued practising martial arts. I didn't see a point after he was gone."

"Do you know if there's any other members still out there?"

"No one that I'm aware of. I think my grandfather kept tabs on some people. He was always quite vague about it." Ruewen leaned against the wall. "Bloody hell. All his research is in a box somewhere in my bedroom. I can find it for you."

"That would be greatly appreciated. But could you just... tell me everything you know? Anything that comes to your mind that might be relevant to the massacre."

"Thing is? I genuinely don't remember much. I left Sichuan two weeks before the attack. I didn't go back until way afterwards. And I... didn't want to stay for long." Ruewen's hands went up to her arms, and she held herself there for a long moment. "I didn't want to look back. I just wanted to move on, forget it ever happened. But I think you'll find my grandfather's notes useful." And then she stopped for a moment. "How did you spend all these years? No way you survived by yourself. You'd have been... eight? Nine? During the attack?"

"My grandmother came from me."

"The one from the Yuannan Mountain Sect?" Ruewen looked up in disbelief. "She hated your father. I remember them gossiping about her. She visited you once after you were born, got into a massive argument with your father and refused to come back afterwards."

"Yep." Odile gave a small nod. "That's her. She's gone now too."

Ruewen just sighed. "I'll go get the box. Might take a while."

"I'm coming with you," Damian said coolly. "Yu Lan?"

She sighed. "I'll come too. Ruewen, ignore him."

"Who the fuck is he?"

"A friend."

"A friend who's dressed in all black and most definitely trained. Who managed to break into this apartment with you. What kind of company have you fallen into? I remembered you as an uptight, rule-sticking type of girl."

Odile pursed her lips. "People change."

Ruewen shook her head in disbelief. "Miracle you survived. They all thought you were a little spoiled back in the sect, you know?"

Odile shrugged. "I couldn't continue to be spoiled when I was living with my grandmother under someone else's roof, could I?"

"Fair enough." Ruewen opened her bedroom door. "It's a small room. We might not all fit in. Please don't sit on my bed, I have a thing for hygiene."

"Wasn't planning on it," Damian huffed, arms crossed. Ruewen knelt down before her bed, shuffling around boxes. They were there for a little while before Ruewen finally pulled out an A4 sized box and opened it.

"Is this it?" Odile asked softly.

"Think so." Ruewen sighed. "I didn't want to throw this away, but I wasn't sure what to do with it either. Some of these papers are probably quite old by now. Might take you guys a while to read through all this. Take it."

Damian picked up the box.

"I'm afraid that's all I can help you with." Ruewen paused for a moment. "If you succeed... would you come back when you succeed? I want to tell my grandfather. It'll make him happy, wherever he is."

"When I've finally avenged the sect, I'll make sure to let you know." Odile understood that. Closure. Ruewen might have tried to put distance between herself and the sect, but it was still a part of her.

She wasn't going to leave the woman hanging.

Ruewen gave a little nod. "But please, don't scare me like that again. I've been awake for far too long."

"It was his idea," Odile said, jabbing a finger at Damian. He narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing.

Ruewen sighed. "That's all I have for you. If you don't mind... I need some rest. And to get a new lock, apparently."

me (handshake emoji) adding every chinese city i'm familiar with as a setting for this story

next chapter is slightly more filler bc the plot's going relatively quickly rn, we're nearing the end of the second flashback (ik it's quite short but the third one is the actually important one i swear) so!!!!!