"Seriously dude? It's almost midnight, and no sign of her. Can we head back to the cave?"

I groan and place a finger to my ear. "Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Stuttering comes through the other end of my com and I hide a smile, continuing to walk along though the forest. I am just about to cross the bridge when a sickening voice comes though the darkness. "Hello, Arrow."

Cheshire. I whirl around and my bow goes up. To my surprise she's less than a few feet away, but that doesn't stop me from shooting. The arrow grazes her shoulder as she jumps out of the way, landing a little away.

I draw another arrow, keeping it trained on her. "What's your game, Cheshire?"

Her face is covered, but I can see the dark glint of her eyes. "My game? Whatever do you mean?" Her voice is almost purring, which fits, considering her name.

My eyes narrow as I take the appearance of the woman I've been hunting for the past two weeks. Her dark green kimono goes down to her knees, the edges frayed. The outfit is tied around her waist and is paired with black need-high boots. The eerie mask hides her true identity, although I've caught glimpses.

To my surprise, she reaches up and takes her mask off. Thick black hairs spills past her shoulders as black eyes scrutinize every detail. Her olive-colored skin shines under the moonlight. Some would call it romantic; a deadly battle between two assassins who do not have loyalties. Me? Not so much.

I tighten my grip on the bow. "Why?"

She rolls her eyes. "Please. I think you know everything about me."

"Course I do, sweetheart."

The corners of her lips turn up. "Of course, you're not that much older than me." Without warning she launches herself towards me.

I barely have time to raise my hands in defense before I am knocked to the group, wrapping her legs around my waist. She pins my arms to the ground. I struggle, but to no avail. She's surprisingly strong for a woman of her size.

A knife suddenly appears and is held against my cheek. I don't move, only glaring at her. "Arrow," she purrs. "It's been a pleasure."

Before I could ask what she meant, she leaned down and pressed her lips to mine. My eyes widen and I bring my arms to her waist, flipping use over. Now I'm on top, pinning her so she can't move.

Her seemingly innocent eyes bat themselves. "Such a gentleman."

I growl and push her hands together so they fit in one of my hands. As I place my other hand to my ear, I can't help but notice that her hands are delicate and smooth, not a typical trait of a killer. "Kid Flash? Are you there?"

There is slight static. "Roy? What happened? I've been trying to lock onto your signal!"

I glance at Cheshire and those dark eyes blink, her expression more curious that anything. "I ran into some trouble. How far away are you?"

There's a flash and the speedster appears, his black uniform almost disappearing in the darkness. His eyebrows rise as he takes it in. "This is Cheshire? I was expecting something more-"

I quickly look down at our captive just as her face contorts into a smirk. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm playing nice."

Before I could warn Wally not to say anything, his idiotic mouth opens. "Oh yeah? So were we."

Now it's my turn to glare at the boy. "We?"

He immediately looks down at the ground, only to perk back up again. "Souvenir!" He leans down and picks up Cheshire's dagger. I feel her tense beneath me. "Don't touch that," she says roughly.

Wally raises an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do, strangle me with your eyes?"

I flinch at his tone. "Wally . . ." I warn. "Play nice."

He looks at me and rolls his eyes. "Relax. It's not like she can-" A crash echoes through the distance and we both look up. Then I realized my mistake when she throws me off and I crash into a tree, groaning slightly. My vision starts to turn red when I feel a sharp prick in my neck; she had injected something in me.

My vision is almost gone when I see her come towards me. Even as I know she's going to kill me, I look at her carefully. She's beautiful.

Her breath ghosts over my cheek as she leans down. "Sleep tight," she whispers.

Well this is a nice way to die.

Darkness turns to faint light as my eyes flutter open. Why aren't I dead?

Then I see her.

She's standing a few feet away, leaning against a gray wall, watching me. Her mask is off and she is in the same clothes as yesterday.

My first instinct is to leap up and attack her. When I try and move, a sharp pain goes through my head. Immediately she's by my side, placing her delicate hand on my chest. "Don't." Her voice carries warning. "That drug hasn't worn off yet."

I look up at her like she was crazy. "What . . . why . . ."

The corners of her lips turn up, just like when I first saw her. Somehow, I know that's the closest thing I'll ever get to a smile. "Relax. If I wanted you dead I would have killed you before. Besides," she purrs, "You make life very interesting."

I look around once again. We're in a worn down apartment, filled with a few pieces of furniture and even less light. I'm on a small, but comfy, couch. The only widow comes from a window above the sink; the only light a bare bulb near the door. "Where am I?"

She removes her hand off my chest and I let out my breath, not knowing I was holding it. Her hands waves lazily, fanning herself. She sits down on the coffee table beside me. "If I told you, I would have to kill you."

My eyes widened slightly, but she noticed. "What? Scared?"

I scoffed. "Hardly. I just would like to know why an agent of the Shadows would take a hero-"

"Sidekick," she sings.

I glare at her, although for some reason I can't say mad at her. She's too . . . ugh! She's the enemy, she's the enemy. "An ex-sidekick and bring them into their home, in addition to not killing them when they had the chance."

She shrugs, but I can detect a secret in her eyes. "As I said before, you make life interesting. It'd be a shame to kill such a handsome hero."

"You think I'm handsome?"

Her eyes roll. "Shouldn't it be the gentleman complementing the lady?"

I fight the urge to laugh. "Which one are you?"

She bites her lip. "Jade."

"What?" I say, although I have a slight clue.

"That's my name."

"And why are you telling me?"

Her eyes flicker up and down, making me feel self-conscious. "I can trust you."

I want to laugh, but find I can't. Is this some kind of joke?

Looking into her eyes, her beautiful, black eyes, I want to run. I want to grab the nearest weapon and kill her on the spot. But I can't.

She projects an image of violence, but I know as well as anyone that it can be forced. I've heard her back story from Batman. Raised from birth to become an assassin isn't good on anyone. When I look at her, I see a deadly assassin. When I look even deeper, I see a scared girl, barely an adult.

"Come with me." The words fly out of my mouth.

Her expression goes from worried, to shock, to anger. "Don't play games with me."

I shake my head quickly and sit up again, ignoring the searing pain. "It isn't a game. I want to help you."

She leans forward until our faces are inches apart. Her lips part and my heart leaps.

"Good doesn't mix with bad. Take a guess which one I am."

Before I can say anything, or do anything, she leaps up. The door flings open and she walks out, not looking back.

A voice echoes in my ear. "Roy! Are you there?"

I growl, upset at Cheshire but surprised that she left my com in. Maybe she can be changed after all. "I'm here. Where are you?"

The next to I saw her was in New Orleans.

I sat down, eyeing the heavily tattooed barman. I ordered something; I didn't know what, but I didn't care. I was tired of 'playing hero', as Cheshire would say.

Cheshire. She had been avoiding my path ever since that fateful day, when she didn't kill me. I still can picture her dark eyes, her night-black hair. They were entrancing, although it killed me inside. Stupid Justice League. Stupid Shadows. Why can't we be normal?

The ding of a bell comes throughout the room, but I barely noticed. That is, until a certain black haired villain sat next to me.

At first I stiffen, catching a slight glimpse out of the corner of my eye. "Cheshire," I hiss. "What are you doing here?"

When she doesn't answer, I look over. My face fills with shock.

She is dressed in civilian clothing, a single black v-neck paired with faded jeans. But her neck had quite a few scratches, some very deep, and bruises littered her arms. Her head was down, her hair covering her expression.

My chair scrapes as I stand up, grabbing her arm. She winced, then looked at me. "Let go," she says quietly.

It nearly broke my heart. Her voice was filled with emptiness, nothing like the time we had met before. It made me want to scream. "Who did this to you?" I ask, lowering my voice.

She turns back to the bar and shakes her arm off, nodding to the barman. He sets a drink in front of her, ignoring how she looked. He probably got a lot of customers looking like her.

This time I place my head gently on her shoulder. "Jade," I say. "Who did this to you?"

Without looking up, she replies. "It's no big deal."

I've had enough. Grabbing her arm I pull her out of the chair, rushing her towards the door. To my surprise she doesn't protest.

A few blocks later we reach the hotel I'm staying at. I rush through the lobby with her in tow, trying to go as fast as I can. I reach my room in record time and slam the door shut once we're both inside.

I turn and face her. She's sat on the bed, looking down. "Who," I growl, "did this to you?"

She looks up at me, and I could see her harsh expression. "I'm fine. Leave it be."

I shake my head and stride across the room, throwing open my bag. I pull out a first aid kit and open that, walking over to her.

Jade moves over as I sit beside her, and I could see she's wary. I'm tempted to make some funny remark, but I settled for the straight facts. "You didn't kill me when we first met. I'm not going to kill you."

She doesn't move when I inch closer, bandages in my hands. "Where does it hurt?"

Jade closes her eyes. "Everywhere," she says, her voice surprisingly soft.

I gently move my hand forward and slide my fingers along her side. She flinches, but otherwise doesn't move. I lift up her shirt a few inches, revealing a deep gash. I ignore the beating of my heart and bring the bandages around her body.

When I finish, she's almost asleep.

I wake up in the morning to an empty bed.

She throws a smoke bomb, causing me to take a few steps back. I look to see Sportsmaster escaping. "Sportsmaster," I say.

Then she tackles me, pinning me to the ground. Her dagger whirls around and rest on my cheek, causing me to flinch. Is she going to hurt me or not? Whose side is she on?

"Oh," she says. "Too bad, lover boy." She takes her mask off and presses her lips to mine.

I don't move, shocked. What is she doing? I can't help but enjoy it, remembering our first kiss, the time we first met.

She leans back as I hear Artemis gasp. "But at least a kiss is still a kiss."

A rushing sound appears and Jade is knocked off of me. Wally appears by my side and I glare at him as he says his usual punch line. Then it hit me. I enjoyed the kiss.

"Artemis! Tracer arrow on Sportsmaster!" I yell, forcing my gaze away from Jade, who was lying on the ground.

She shoots the arrow and rushes after the villain, taking Wally with her.

I look up, just in time to see Jade looks up at the same time. A small smile graces her lips; a real one, not a fake one. "You must really like me," she says.

I stand up and walk towards her, holding out a hand. "What can I say? You're attractive."

Her dainty hand grasps mine and I pull her up. Our hands don't leave one another's as she turns to face me. "Arrow," she says, surprisingly quiet. "Don't forget me."

I capture my lips in hers, but she gets my answer.

"Love you," I say.

"Love you too," she says back.