Part 2 of the Bits and Pieces Series.
A series of stories mostly addressing those things Sara changed (or tried to) during her years on the Waverider.
These works complement the Screw Normal series, so they might make reference to specific situations mentioned there (in no specific order).
The Moscow Incident
Sara readjusted the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder as she stepped off the precarious plane. She calmly breathed in the cold night air and looked around the dark and seemingly empty secluded section of the landing strip.
After checking for the second time she was, indeed, alone, the blonde decided to walk to the main building a few yards ahead. As expected, a security guard awaited for her at the gate "Do you need me to carry anything for you, miss?" he asked conspiratorially, his thick accent hiding his nervousness.
She nodded and reached for a small pouch hidden inside her leather jacket, handing it to the man with a threatening warning "Your life's the price to pay if you 'misplace' this"
"O-of course, m-miss" he stuttered, hiding the pouch somewhere inside his coat.
With a short nod, the blonde readjusted the strap of her duffel bag again and walked deeper into the airport; the security guard walking in the exact opposite direction and disappearing behind a door.
She managed to get through customs and immigrations without a problem; partly thanks to her innocent looks and natural charm, and partly for to the years of League training and a fake passport.
"Sorry" a man casually apologized in Russian when he accidentally bumped into her as she walked out the main building.
Sara smiled and looked at him "No problem" she said in the same language "But I would appreciate if you gave me my wallet back"
"Your wallet?" he asked taking a careful step back.
"Yes, the one you just snatched from my pocket" the blonde said, still in Russian, half smirking.
"I don't…" he started, and then suddenly turned around and tried to run, only to find himself being pulled back by the neck of his coat.
Sara took advantage of the momentum, shoving the man down on the floor. She got down on one knee and reached inside the man's heavy coat, retrieving her wallet.
"Thank you" she said, still smirking as she held the item up, and started to get up.
"Bitch" the thief mumbled, this time in English, causing the woman to kneel back down and connect a perfect, clean punch with his nose.
Sara stood up after, looking down as the man moaned in pain and covered his bloody nose "I don't like that word" she said, also in English, and walked away.
She spotted the security guard from before smiling and waiting for her in the parking lot "I wouldn't want to be him" the man observed, handing her the small pouch back.
"Thanks" the blonde examined it, making sure nothing was missing and smiled back at him "You kept your end of the deal, so your nose can remain intact"
"I trust you'll tell Ms. al Ghul of my cooperation when you give her my regards?"
Sara chuckled and nodded once, discreetly handing him a small wad of cash "Of course"
"Thank you" he said and bowed his head "And good luck"
"Luck's for rookies, Sergei" she winked at him with a smirk "I'm the thing rookies should be afraid of"
Sara huffed, running her fingers through her hair and closed the folder she had resting on her lap. After a full day of recon, she was already insanely bored and ready to go out, so she checked her phone one more time, sighing at the time, 10:37 p.m.
"Fuck it" she said to herself, moving her feet from the coffee table and standing up. She pocketed her phone and reached for her leather jacket, putting in on in one swift motion. Next, she walked to the dresser and reached for the small leather pouch, retrieving a small vial full of a thick purple liquid "Let's hope for an easy one" she said, examining it carefully before placing it in her pocket, then opened the top drawer "And have a plan B" she pulled out her collapsed bō staff and a couple of small daggers, carefully hiding all of them among her clothes and boots.
She walked to the bed, where she had dropped her duffel bag before to get a change of clothes, and unzipped it. It took her a couple of seconds to find a scarf and a beanie, and after putting them off and scoffing at her hipster reflection in the mirror, she pocketed her keys and went out the door.
Once outside the building, she started slowly walking in the general direction of her final destination, fishing her phone from her pocket and calling the contact saved as 'Hot Ninja Princess'. She waited for a few seconds, and finally a tired, female voice answered in Arabic.
"Are you dying?"
Sara chuckled "No"
"Severely injured?"
"No!"
"In need of assistance?"
"No"
"Then why on earth are you calling me?"
"Can't I just miss you?"
"Of course, and I am exceedingly flattered, but couldn't you miss me at a later time? What happened to your rule of not getting distracted during missions?"
"I told you, I miss you"
"Please, Ta-er al-Asfer, who do you believe you are talking to? Do not underestimate me. You are merely bored"
"Okay, fine, maybe that, too. So, how's Edinburgh?"
She heard the other woman laugh "The exact same as the last time you were here" then added in a quieter tone "Any news?"
"Not yet. It's too early, I'm taking a walk to pass time"
"Can I ask you for a favor?"
"That vodka you like? 'Cause I've already got that for you earlier today"
Another laugh followed by a sigh "That was not it, but thank you. Ta-er al-Asfer, try not to get into unnecessary trouble this time. You have an uncanny talent for that"
"Now you jinxed it"
"There is no such thing as a jinx"
"I can't believe you just said that. It's not like I do it on purpose!" the blonde tried to defend herself, then after hearing the other woman scoff, she added "Most times, anyway"
The blonde walked out the bar she had chosen earlier to waste some time and carefully put her leather gloves back on. She put on her beanie, too, and brushed off her clothes, groaning at the cigarette smell that would linger in her clothes all night.
A tall, handsome man also walked out a few seconds later, accidentally bumping into her "Oh, sorry" he said in Russian, stopping to check if she was okay "I didn't see you there, are you alright?"
"Yes, don't worry about it" she answered casually in the same language and started walking away "Have a good night"
"You too"
She carelessly walked Moscow's busy streets, taking in the scenery as she passed by several groups of very different people, most of them going in or out of bars and clubs.
After a few more blocks, she looked across the street, where two bodyguards were walking out of a busy, loud nightclub, looking around for possible threats, and motioning for someone to follow them when they spotted none.
"Right on time" Sara smirked to herself and crossed the street, casually bumping her shoulder into one of the bodyguards as she tried to walk past them.
"Watch it!" the man yelled in Russian, shoving her away.
She purposefully spoke a slightly slurred English this time, taking a step closer to him "Hey, easy man, what's your problem? It was an accident!"
The man shoved her again, and this time she allowed the force of the shove to send her to the ground, conveniently close to the entrance of an alley.
"What are you doing?!" the man in the expensive looking suit they were guarding asked in Russian "She's just a girl!" he managed to move away from them, enough to stand over the woman, holding his hand out for her and saying in English "Allow me"
The blonde looked up at him with a frown "Fuck you, man" she slurred angrily "You're probably just like them, just leave me alone" and following that, she scaredly scooted back, ending right at the entrance of the alley.
"I mean you no harm" he tried again, running his hands down the front of his suit before walking closer to her and extending his hand "Please"
Sara carefully looked past the man, noticing both his bodyguards were not that focused on the situation as they should be, so she sighed dramatically and reached up for his hand, allowing the man to help her up.
"Thanks" she said once she was standing in front of him, shoving her right hand inside her pocket again.
"Forgive their manners, they don't know how to treat a beautiful lady such as yourself" he smirked when the blonde smiled shyly and looked down at the floor "Did he hurt you?"
"No, don't worry"
"Were you going somewhere? If you were, I can take you there if you want, as an apology for my men's behavior, of course"
"Actually…" she casually leaned forward as if she was about to tell him something she didn't want anyone else to hear, but not enough for the man to hear what she was actually whispering, so that forced him to lean forward himself "...I came here for you" she said loud and clear once he was close enough.
Before the man or any of his bodyguards could register what was happening, she caught him by the lapels of his suit jacket and dragged him further into the dark alley. She shoved him hard against the brick wall and retrieved the small vial from her pocket, triggering it so a small needle came out on one end, and sticking that needle into his neck.
"If it was up to me, I would torture you for days before killing you, but this will have to do" she said through gritted teeth, her face impossibly close to his.
By the time the vial was empty, both bodyguards were pulling her away from the man, not realizing it was already too late. She literally laughed at their pathetic attempts to reduce her, stretching out her bō and knocking both of them unconscious in a matter of seconds.
The blonde turned to look at her target, still alive, but now sitting on the floor and leaning back against the cold brick wall. She squatted down in front of him and forcefully held his chin in one leather gloved hand, carefully examining his eyes, noticing the golden speckles starting to appear "Josef Denisovich, for your innumerable crimes against humanity, you are sentenced to death by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins"
The man looked up at her and tried to say something back, but instead he coughed, already having trouble breathing.
"Rot in hell, you sick motherfucker" she spat, right before the man drew his last breath.
Before she could walk out of the alley and leave the scene as it was, the tall man that bumped into her back at the bar rushed to one of the unconscious bodyguards' side. He knelt down and checked the man's pulse, then turned to look at her after confirming he was still alive "Who are you?"
"Who am I?" she asked frowning "Who the fuck are you?"
Two more men appeared at the entrance of the alley, blocking her only way out.
"I will ask again" the man said standing up to face her "Who are you?"
"Your fairy godmother"
The man tried to backhand her, but she ducked just in time, swinging at him and connecting a perfect punch to his jaw. As soon as she did, however, the other two men rushed to her sides, grabbing and tightly holding her arms.
"You kill Denisovich?" the tall man kept asking, his English getting rougher the angrier he got.
"Who?" she asked to irritate him, while struggling to free her arms.
There was nothing she could do this time to avoid the punch; the force of it splitting her bottom lip.
"Who are you?"
"Okay, okay" she said, letting out a long, defeated sigh "I'm gonna tell you the truth 'cause I can't handle all this violence…" she ran her tongue over her split lip and looked up at him in the eye "...Luke, I am your father"
Another punch, and she groaned "Shit, man, that's gonna give me a black eye"
He moved forward to punch her again, but this time she was ready; using both men as human crutches, she jumped up, shoving both her feet into the man's chest, then flipping backwards, forcing the other two to release her arms.
She immediately engaged the two men that were holding her before, managing to actually do some considerable damage before she felt the end of a gun pressed to the back of her head.
"Turn around" the man instructed, and she did, finding the gun pressed to her forehead now "Now you tell me who you are?"
"Yes" she said holding her hands up in surrender "But I should let you know that if I do, I'll have to kill you"
"If I don't kill you first"
"I'm League of Assassins"
All three men started laughing, and the one pointing at her actually lowered his gun "League of Assassins is a… how do you say? A myth"
"I can assure you, it's very real" she smiled when the man shook his head, and disarmed him in a fraction of a second, pointing the gun at him "Now's your turn. Who the fuck are you?" she waited for an answer, but got nothing but silence "Alright, have it your way, I'm gonna call you Nancy from now on. Now tell me what the fuck you're doing here, Nancy; I'm running outta patience"
The three men exchanged a pointed look, before the one she was holding at gunpoint—Nancy— said "We are Bratva"
"Fuck" the blonde mumbled to herself "She totally jinxed it"
"You kill Denisovich?" Nancy asked again.
"Yes"
"Why?"
"I don't answer to you" she quickly moved her arm, aiming to her right when she felt one of the other two men advancing on her. A single muffled gunshot could barely be heard, and the man fell to the floor grabbing his bullet pierced thigh. She pointed the gun at the leader again and said "Nancy, would you please tell your guys to not be so stupid? If I wanted you dead, you would be. Denisovich was my target, not you, I don't have business in Moscow anymore, so I can be outta your way in like three seconds"
"I'm afraid I can't let you leave" immediately after the man said that, she felt a sharp sting on the back of her neck and turned around, making out the outlines of three more men as her vision blurred before she lost consciousness.
"Who is she?"
"She says she's with the League of Assassins"
"That's a myth"
"That's what I thought, too, but you should see what she can do"
"What do we do now?"
"We interrogate her while we wait for the boss"
Sara heard the whole conversation, while still faking being unconscious, thanking Nyssa internally for insisting on teaching her Russian.
She could feel her hands tightly tied behind her back. She was obviously sitting in a hard wooden chair, that much she could tell, and her gloves were taken off, along with her jacket, beanie and scarf. She tried to focus, allowing her senses to take over.
It was still cold, but not street cold, so they were somewhere inside. The smell of gunpowder and cheap alcohol invaded her nostrils, and she could hear distant chatter, other than the one coming from the two men closer to her, which meant they considered a threat and were supposed to keep her guarded.
"Hey, guys? Can we get started with the lame interrogation?" she asked in English, getting bored of waiting already "I have a home to go back to"
Now that she had her eyes open she could see both men; one was Nancy, the other one was the bodyguard, the one who didn't shove her.
"You are not going home, girl" tall Nancy said amusedly.
"Yes, I am"
Both men smirked before the bodyguard asked "How are you so sure?"
"Remember how I told you I'm a member of the League and you thought it was a myth?" she waited for the men to nod with their stupid smirks "Well, have you heard of the Heir to the Demon?"
Their smirks immediately disappeared.
"All a myth"
"And yet I'm guessing you've heard of her"
"Yes" the bodyguard admitted.
"What's your myth-version of her?"
"They say she's been trained from birth" the bodyguard—who's English was a lot more eloquent—said, his tone making him sound fascinated with 'the myth' that was The Heir "She's a ruthless killer who never failed a mission or missed a target"
The corner of Sara's lips turned up slightly "You're a little afraid of her, aren't you?"
The man cleared his throat and stared down at her "She's a myth"
"Well, I share a bed with that 'myth', and I can assure you, she's very, very real"
"All lies" the tall man said.
"The things that woman can do…" she added grunting and whistled at the end "...you wouldn't believe" smirking again when both men gulped, she decided to continue "She's gonna be disappointed if I don't make it back home, you know? And a little mad, too; so mad she'll probably raid this fucking city looking for me"
"Enough!" Nancy yelled, his fear starting to show.
"Just one more thing"
"What?"
"Guess who trained me?" she asked grinning, surprising both men by holding up her free, untied hands.
She got up, grabbing the back of the chair and slamming it on Nancy's back with such force that it shattered in several pieces, leaving the man unconscious on the floor.
"You up for round two?" she asked the bodyguard, smiling at his obvious fear.
The blonde heard a set of rapid footsteps approaching her from behind, so she ducked out of the way, reaching for a particularly sharp piece of broken wood and stabbing the man on the back of his leg. His scream pierced the otherwise silent room, and she felt her adrenaline kick in, renewed by it.
"Sorry we got so rudely interrupted…" she saw the man with the piece of wood sticking out of his leg trying to pull a gun from his waist, so she kicked him in the head, rendering him unconscious, too "...like I said: ready for round two?"
The bodyguard pulled out his own gun, but his hand was shaking "Lady, don't make me do this"
"I didn't start this shit" she stated angrily "I told your friend I was done here and would leave while you were taking a nap, and you assholes drugged me and kidnapped me. Now I'm fucking pissed!"
Three more men appeared out of nowhere, all of them armed and immediately surrounding her. She looked around carefully, deciding where to strike first, but before she could move, a new and kind of familiar voice said calmly "That's enough"
Sara turned around in the direction of the voice and frowned in confusion, not daring to say anything.
"Leave" the short, older man commanded his men "Take these two with you" he added, pointing at the two unconscious ones, and all four men immediately did what he said and left him alone with the blonde woman.
He carefully looked her up and down, half smiling after a few long seconds "Glad you're not dead"
She chuckled, her split lip reopening with the gesture "Glad you're not dead either. Sub?"
The man nodded "Turns out Japanese submarine, not so different from Russian submarine"
Sara laughed again, dabbing at her lip with the back of her hand.
"Sorry for that" he said, pointing at her bruised face.
"You're Bratva?"
"Bratva Captain, yes"
"What the fuck, Anatoli?!"
"I said sorry!" he repeated shrugging "How could I know it was you? I thought you were dead, Sara"
"Well, I'm not. And don't say my name"
"League of Assassins?"
She narrowed her eyes and said carefully "That's a myth"
"Ah, yes. Of course" Anatoli nodded his understanding.
"Thanks" she nodded "Can I leave now?"
"You messed with Bratva; angered Bratva, too"
Sara shook her head "Bratva messed with me, and your boys fucking pissed me off"
"I needed Denisovich alive"
"The rest of the world needed him dead"
"I cannot argue with that" Anatoli sighed "About time they sent someone" he said, implicitly meaning the League "That man needed to be stopped"
"Sorry for the delay" the blonde said grimacing "I usually get assigned these kind of targets and I've been busy with a lot of sick motherfuckers lately"
"What kind of targets?"
"Mostly human traffickers, like Denisovich, but also rapists, enslavers…" she shoved her hands in her pockets "...any dirtbag who poses a threat to an innocent woman or child"
"Ah, the noble causes" Anatoli said smiling "Thank you for your services"
"Glad I could help"
"You cost me a great deal of money and resources"
"Sorry 'bout that, but at least you didn't have any casualties" she shrugged "Had it been anyone else here instead of me, and half your boys would be dead. Particularly Nancy; even I was so close to snap his neck"
"Nancy?"
"Tall one, acts like he's the shit, he was mad I terminated Denisovich"
"It was for the greater good, yes?"
"Absolutely"
"Go" he said, handing her everything they took from her before "Tell the Heir we are friends, yes? No need to raid Bratva"
"Don't give her reasons, Anatoli" she said, putting on her jacket "There's only so much I can do when she gets mad"
"We were never League concern"
"No, you were not. Until you kidnapped the Heir's girlfriend"
"I apologized"
The blonde chuckled and moved to hug him briefly "Let's keep the kidnapping part between us, okay?"
"I appreciate that" the man said, hugging her back.
"Take care, Anatoli. Keep an eye on your men, especially Nancy, think they're enjoying being Bratva way more than they should. I wouldn't like to have to come back here for one of them"
"I will, but if you must, come visit. We'll have family dinner, yes?"
She laughed and winked at the smiling man "I don't think your boys like me, but I'll make sure to bring the Heir with me"
"No, babe, I'm fine"
"Are you positive?"
"One hundred percent" Sara said, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She had just walked out of the shower when her phone started ringing.
"Were you able to complete your mission?"
"I'm deeply hurt by that question, you know?" the blonde said back, carefully touching her darkening left eye and wincing.
"Sara, are you injured?"
"No"
"Are you lying to me?"
"Just a black eye and split lip. I've had way worse" she heard Nyssa mumble incoherently in Arabic, which made her laugh "Okay, wait"
Moving the phone away from her ear, she took advantage of the bathroom mirror and took a picture of herself, immediately sending it to her girlfriend.
"There, I sent you proof"
"Proof?"
"Yes, proof. Check your phone" she waited patiently, turning off the bathroom light and walking barefoot to the bedroom, dropping the towel she had wrapped around her body and getting in bed.
"Alright, fair enough" Nyssa said a few seconds later "However, that towel was a inconvenience, to say the least"
Sara chuckled and turned off the table lamp by the bed "What did that poor towel do to you?"
"Nothing in particular, I was merely disappointed"
"If it's any consolation, the towel is off now"
"Ah, I did not conceive you capable of such cruelty, beloved"
"Cruelty?" Sara chuckled "I was trying to ease your disappointment"
"You created some very interesting images for my brain in the process"
"I did?"
"Why, yes. I have been deprived of such images for far too long now"
"You and I both, babe" the blonde said suggestively.
"Sara"
"Yes, Nyssa?"
"Do not be cruel"
She got more comfortable in bed, making sure to moan softly in the process, hearing a sharp intake of air on the other side of the line "None of this have to be cruel, you know?"
"It does not?"
"No, babe" she almost purred "I would never do that to you; there is a very simple, very satisfying solution for both of us. Remember our first missions apart after we just started dating?"
"Habibti" Nyssa sighed, already giving in.
"You now know the towel is off; so, tell me, baby: what are you wearing?"