I know I'm supposed to be writing chapter 3 of Knock Knock but I just really love Jade okay?
Also 'cause real!Roy has been found I'm calling clone/babydaddy!Roy 'Red' for this story…
She doesn't remember how she first hears about it.
But she remembers that the first thing she does is laugh.
One of the tiny Justice Leaguers has been killed? And not just by anyone. By one of their former leaguers who'd joined forces with his evil daddy. I mean really.
You couldn't make this stuff up.
But Jade Nguyen has more important things to do. Dwelling on the annoying team of kids who like to dress up and play superhero is not one of them. As long as they aren't trying to meddle in her affairs, she's more than happy to let them take themselves out.
And apparently they're doing that just fine.
So she brushes it aside and gets to work on her important tasks. The first one involving breaking into her estranged husband's flat. Again.
Jade wriggles the window open and slips in with ease. She should probably talk to Red about getting better security, but, then again, he is pretty handy with a bow. She creeps through the kitchen and notices things are a lot tidier than the first time she was here. There are even a couple of kid's toys on the floor and a small playpen in the corner.
Jade smiles a little and gives the plastic duck a gentle kick. She knew Red would be a good parent. Far better than she ever could be. Don't get her wrong, she loves Lian with every fibre of her being, but being a world class assassin for hire and a mom don't exactly go hand in hand. Bringing Lian along last time was fun, but even she could see the implications of bringing a toddler on dangerous missions. Jade is reckless but not that reckless.
She just hoped Artemis was okay for babysitting next time.
"Jade?"
She jumps slightly. Christ. "Been practising your stealth since I last saw you Red? You almost snuck up on me."
"I heard you jimmy the kitchen window."
So she guessed witty banter was out of their repertoire for tonight at least. Usually he would rise to her baiting. "Where's Lian?" She asks.
"Asleep in her room." He replies as if it's the most obvious thing ever.
She brushes past him and gently opens the door to Lian's room. Lithely stepping over the clothes on the floor, she makes it to Lian's cot without stepping on that squeaky floorboard. Her beautiful daughter is sprawled out; her left arm covering her face. Funny, that's exactly how Red sleeps. Jade brushes a tuft of hair off of Lian's forehead. She knows how dangerous these visits could be but seeing her daughter makes the risk worthwhile. She places a tiny kiss on Lian's cheek and the infant gurgles and rolls over.
Times like this Jade almost wishes things were different.
Almost.
But this is the life she chose.
When she exits Lian's room, Red is sitting on the couch with a newspaper in his hand. Jade's not good with words or emotions or any of that crap. She never has been. Usually she'd just skip out after seeing Lian but tonight she senses that something is different.
Red lifts his head up from staring at the newspaper and looks at her. Really looks. It's a little scary actually. "Jade. Why are you here?"
"To see my daughter. I know I'm not exactly 'World's Greatest Mom' Red but…"
He looks at her with such sadness in his eyes and for the life of her Jade can't understand why. "You don't know do you?"
Know? Know what?
Jade is confused.
And she doesn't like being confused.
Confused isn't in her vocabulary. Usually.
Before she can articulate any words Red hands her the newspaper. And she sees the headline:
'Memorial held for dead college student'.
And she sees the picture.
No.
No.
Her heart is racing and she can't think straight.
No.
There's some sort of article but Jade isn't bothered about it. She just stares at the picture.
No.
Lies.
She knows Artemis. She knows her sister. She knows her skills.
No.
No. She won't believe it.
Jade is shaking. She's trying to hide it, but it's not working. Red wants to do something, say something –after all she still is his wife, even though their marriage isn't, well, typical – but words fail him. Jade lets the paper drop to the floor and she isn't hiding anything anymore. Red can see her rage.
And it terrifies him.
Her next move is so sudden that he doesn't even have time to blink. In a second she's pinned him to the floor, arm across his throat.
"What. Happened." She growls and her usually calm, albeit slightly psychopathic, demeanour is rapidly slipping away. And in its place is pure rage.
Red thrashes around but Jade tightens the pressure on his neck. He splutters and his face turns slightly purple and doesn't think for a second Jade would hesitate to kill him. "Kaldur...Black…Manta." He manages to cough out.
Maybe he should have broken the news differently.
Like from inside a bomb shelter.
Kaldur…Black Manta?
Wait.
No.
No
It couldn't be.
She'd retired. She stopped all that stupid pretend superhero crap.
She was at collegefor chrissake.
Generally one doesn't have a run in with Black Manta in a lecture hall.
So what the hell?
"Jade…choking me…Jade…can't breathe." Red gasps and gulps down air as Jade suddenly releases her grip. Before he has a chance to fully recover she's on her feet and he catches the determined look on her face as she slips out the window.
He rubs his throat and sighs heavily.
"God help you Kaldur."
Finding Black Manta is the easy part. Apart from OceanMaster there's only one other person that uses fleets of submarines. Very big, very showy submarines if you ask Jade.
So they're not hard to find.
Finding a guard, taking him out and stealing his uniform is far too easy. Seriously, she's not even trying. The uniform is super uncomfortable though. And hardly any room for free movement. No wonder they always get their asses handed to them in fights.
Next time there's a job involving Black Manta, she's so volunteering.
Sneaking aboard the ship is easy too. Walk beside another armed guard and a simple nod will get you in the front door. Good lord. How do these people get anything done?
The hardest part is deciding how she's going to kill Kaldur.
Murder was never an issue for Jade. She's an assassin, it's always professional.
If it was professional, she'd put a bomb on board and blow the whole damn lot up, but this time it's personal.
It's a cliché she never thought she'd use.
Ever.
But it does put a whole new spin on things.
Jade Nguyen is going to send a message.
She's good at waiting, blending in with Black Manta's men, overhearing something about boom tubes and aliens but she hardly cares for any of that. She's listening for information about the ship; the layout and where the best place for an ambush would be.
And then one of them makes a joke about Artemis's death.
And she's done waiting.
Time for action.
Jade carefully slips out of that goddamn awful armour and stretches. She puts on her trademark mask and places two small knives up her sleeves. Hopefully she won't need them; her hand to hand combat training is deadly enough, but she's learnt it's always good to have a backup plan.
Her dad taught her that one.
Huh.
For the first time in a long time Jade thinks of her dad. She wonders if he's heard the news. Not that he would really care but…it's Artemis.
God, what about her mom?
No. Revenge first.
Revenge is always first.
Blending into the shadows, Jade makes her way along the bowels of the sub, avoiding guards and the occasional camera. The last thing she wants is to be caught.
Like they could actually catch her if she was discovered.
And there he is.
It's not hard to spot him; he's the only one who goes unmasked on the ship.
Why?
She couldn't care less.
Jade follows Kaldur in the shadows, which, like everything else so far, isn't hard because hello, it's a submarine and not a well lit one at that.
Kaldur looks behind him a couple of times, but Jade isn't Cheshire for nothing and each time he looks she simply disappears, grinning exactly like her namesake.
If it's one thing she missed, it's the chase.
That thrill of knowing the person you're following is going to die, and they have absolutely no idea. None.
Only you know that they're going to die.
Because you're the one that's going to kill them.
Oh yes. She's missed this.
She watches as Kaldur keys in a code – 4958rs2 - and the door slides open. After two minutes, Jade follows, keying in the same code and slips in.
His back is to her.
He's talking in hushed tones to some sort of communicator. High tech by the looks of it.
Distracted.
Perfect.
Jade decided she's going to have a little fun with this.
She carefully slips out a knife and aims it at his head. Normally the throat is her main target but that damn armour is in the way, and the way she throws knives, one to the head won't kill him. Just deep enough for pain. Plenty of pain.
Jade takes a deep breath and thinks of Artemis.
"Kaldur!"
Someone rushes into Jade and knocks her off her feet. The knife goes wide and lodges in the wall. Kaldur ducks behind a table, which just happens to be in the room and Jade leaps to her feet, second knife at the ready.
Remember Jade, if you get knocked down, you're not out.
Damn right.
In the two seconds it's taken her to get on feet, on balance and ready to attack, Jade gets a good look at her assailant. She's tall with black hair and pale skin and probably the only person on this stupid submarine not wearing armour.
Rookie movie.
Jade lunges forward but the assailant is already on the movie, grabbing Jade's wrist and twisting it until she drops the knife.
"Get of here Kaldur!" The assailant yells.
Kaldur looks like he wants to stay and help, yes please do, but the assailant gives him a look. He nods and quickly makes for the exit.
"Oh no you don't." Jade snarls and pushes the assailant back, sweeping her feet out from under her at the same time. It seems the assailant is anticipating this move, and flips backwards, landing on her feet.
It looks like Jade has a fight on her hands.
Yeah right.
Her target is Kaldur. Not some bodyguard wannabe.
But too late, Kaldur has slipped out, escaped. Surely he will have alerted Black Manta.
Jade should get out now.
But she's too angry to think about escaping.
He got away.
Luckily there's a person ready for a fight right in front of her that she can take her anger out on.
Shouldn't take more than a minute.
Jade spins on her heels to face her assailant.
"You let him get away." She practically spits.
The assailant says nothing, but leaps forward, ducking under Jade's incoming left fist and going for a kidney slam. Jade intercepts the fist and uses the momentum of the slam to spin the assailant around and throw her against the wall. The assailant cries out as her back hits the rivets on the wall but says nothing.
Jade walks confidently towards the heap on the floor. "Do you know what you've done?"
But the assailant is already on her feet and leaps toward Jade with powerful kick that does takes her by surprise. Jade falters and the assailant uses this unsteadiness to land a right jab square on Jade's jaw.
Now Jade's really pissed off.
She back flips neatly across the room. She's in reaching distance of her knife but she wants to finish this personally. Fists are just so much more fun.
The two of them attack and after another minute of them blocking each other's advances and landing a few glancing blows, Jade realises something.
She knows these moves.
The aggressiveness over defence; the mixture of martial arts and dirty street brawling.
It's how she was taught to fight as a kid.
By her father.
What the hell?
As Jade easily intercepts another right hook, something flits across her assailants eye.
Understanding.
The assailant drops her fist and makes towards to door but Jade is quicker. She takes down her assailant and pins her on the floor; holding the assailant's arms at the wrists. Jade's specially sharpened nails begin to draw blood and the assailant wriggles.
It's a futile attempt.
But cute.
"Go on," Jade whispers harshly, her mouth inches away from the assailant's ear, "get out of this one."
Of course, Jade is fully expecting her to.
And the assailant does. She brings a knee up into Jade's stomach, hard, and, at the same time, twists Jade's arms outwards. Once Jade's grip has loosened the assailant yanks her arms down and pushes Jade off.
Textbook technique.
Well, more like textbook Lawrence Crock technique.
But close enough.
The assailant flees for the door but Jade is quicker. Her hands close around the stupid piece of jewellery around the assailant's neck. She's going to yank the stupid thing off.
Master assassin or not, Jade isn't above resorting to good old fashion cat fight.
She is Cheshire after all.
"Stop! Jade! Stop!" The assailant's hand goes around Jade's wrist and tugs it off the necklace.
Jade.
"What the hell? How do you know me?" Jade demands, "Where did you learn to fight like that? Who are you?"
The assailant laughs.
She actually laughs.
Jade is so close to snapping her damn neck. Her fingers stretch forward but for once, she wants an explanation.
Explanation first, death after.
For once.
The assailant still has her hand on Jade's wrist. Her skin is cold considering she's just been in strenuous fight.
"You need to leave now. Now."
Jade wrenches her wrist away and rips off her mask. This situation is so out of control it's hilarious and life threatening but she doesn't care.
She doesn't care.
She steps forward, "There's only one other person who fights like that and she's dead. You know my name. Who are you?"
This is getting out of hand. "Who do you think?" The one time her sister decides to get revenge on her behalf and it almost blows the whole mission. She's risking everything but Artemis takes Zatanna's charm off before quickly slipping it back on. There's no sort of security measures in this room - it's part of the reason she and Kaldur use it to send the occasional message to Nightwing – but you can never be too sure around here.
Artemis is only herself again for a fraction of a second but it's enough for Jade.
Artemis is alive.
Oh.
Well.
Um.
Before Jade can reply the strap on Artemis' wrist beeps twice, "Guards are coming. Jade you have to go. We're docking in two hours and I'm sure you can find somewhere to hide until then."
Jade nods and is about to leave when Artemis grabs her wrist, "Wait. You're gonna have to knock me out."
What.
When she sees her hesitation Artemis sighs, "So it doesn't look like I let you go idiot. It's fine, just, you know, don't kill me."
If you had told her nine year old self that one day her younger sister would ask you to knock her out, it would have been like Christmas.
Jade sighs, "Fine."
"Wait." Suddenly Artemis is hugging her. "Thanks for trying to avenge my death."
"What can I say?" Jade shrugs, slipping on her mask back over her mane of hair. "We're still sisters."
Artemis opens her mouth to reply but Jade knocks her out with a simple blow to the temple. Artemis will wake with a headache and a nice bruise to show for it. Plus all those other bruises from fighting earlier.
Jade smiles to herself and slips out before Black Manta's men reach the room.
Artemis isn't dead.
And two hours later when she sneaks off that godawful submarine, Jade heads right back to Red's place.
Has she got one hell of a story for Lian.
I had wayyyyy too much fun with this.