At the Mall..

Vivid, vivid and bright -like a diamond cut to make the rainbow. What sorcery made this two dimensional screen so luminescent? She turned her eyes expanding in avid attention, attempting to catch every detail.

It was an advertisement on a screen this handsome woman. The woman's head was turned elegantly, royalty like grace. The image captured every curve every shadow cast upon her close every shade of color could be seen. If she could just reach out her hand she would feel the diaphanous texture of the gown. Everything a painting couldn't match -the perfect image captured in a single second.

"Darissa?"

The spell broke in the world came back into had called her name.

She was in America.

She was in American mall.

She stopped to look at an advertisement?

She stopped to look at an advertisement. Someone could have killed her for that! She would have killed someone for that. Except she was not, and for once she felt relieved at having hundreds of kilometers between her and her mother.

Darissa, unbeknownst to her, she had been projecting all kinds of emotions, not in an obvious way but for the vigilantes she might as well write a soliloquy. Her eyes slightly widened, her feet shifted slightly in the direction of the ad. Her jaw that she had been slightly grinding on had slacked, her scowl slipped to neutral. Her legs that were taking quick strides had slowed and she was casually shifting her weight from leg to leg almost like she wants to stop all together but baser instincts commanded her body forward.

Dick noticed first and grinned before slowing down his steps. That caught Tim's attention, confused at first on why they were slowing down but a glance at what Dick was looking at had him preparing for some petty revenge. So what if the brat might kill someone - he, Bruce shouldn't have trusted her in the first place. But another glance at Dick's warning glint, made Tim pause. That gave Dick the chance to take precautionary measures.

"Darissa?"

Except he wasn't prepared for her reaction, Darissa in an instant changed her demeanor from her look of awe- as much as a look of awe could be seen on the child assassin, to a new level of intensity. Her steps increased in speed nearly soundless, her carefully neutral face to an untapped fury, he wouldn't be surprised if she chipped a tooth the way her jaw clanked and grinded at her teeth. She didn't need words her heart gave her away, or at least that's how Dick is putting it.

Darissa wanted to get away from them; she would have if her father's rules were not echoing in her head. She walks into the nearest store. She does not know how this works at all. As she stares at the pots and pans and knives and cutting boards, she realizes she is not in the correct location.

"Darissa!" A heavy hand grips her shoulder, "are you trying to butter me up?" Grayson teases gently but his hard stare shows his lack of actual humor. Darissa realizes she has been staring blankly at a set of butter knives. He must have thought that she was going to grab them and start stabbing people left and right and center - and that sounds really appealing. She could release some stress and maybe even get rid of the headache that has been following her! Or she could get through this without any incidents lower their guard and kill them all later! So many long term goals, what happened to her mundane basic assassin training life? Now she is stuck here with peasants that are next to useless. Regardless she cannot afford to cause a scene now, with a heavy sigh and an over dramatic eye roll she walks away from the knife's section and follows the conveniently large sign that says room decor with an arrow pointing deeper into the store.

The first isle Darissa walked down she merely looked at everything the cheap plastic objects wrapped in plastic, isle after isle of assorted decorations. Her eyes flicking from left to right never really pausing.

"So first thing first we need to get you a new bed." Dick reads off from the list Bruce gave him. He looks around at the signs, "We need to go that way!" He point in the direction of the sign that says 'Room Furniture' in bold.

Darissa trails ahead pretending there is nothing and no one around her. She hates this, she hates her father, she hates grandfather, and she hates these people, Grayson, Drake, the world people.

Their staring at her, why? She can't muster the brain power to imagine a gruesome death for them at the moment. She attempts to tune out Grayson's voice; maybe she can imagine his death to have some semblance of quiet. She can almost be grateful that they do not attempt to conversations with her, not after the disastrous attempt on their way to this squalid place. Her night of solitude was not nearly enough for her to be patient. She wanted to stay in the shadows away from sight, away from these strangers. She can't help but feel alone despite herself. She can sense her emotions, strong and demanding crowding her thoughts, the urge to hide likes a child overwhelming. Their staring at her again, why?

They had been going in the same direction or at least they had been until she reached another large sign pointing to an escalator down stairs. They had been there about ten minutes and she has already tired of this.

Down the escalator she felt a semblance of peace the more distance she had from the loud and boisterous group. The more their voices faded the more her mind calmed. The moment lasted as long as it took to change from one sword to the next; weighing it in the hand, the balance, the grip, the movement of the wrist before heading into battle once more. And then she stepped off the escalator and the tension returned to her shoulders. She hates this.

The section for beds came up rather quickly after, "All right, we found the bed section!" Dick cheers.

"Did you now?" Drake drawls.

"Okay, but we're here anyways." Grayson smoothly placates. "So what kind of bed do you want Darissa?"

What kind of bed does she want? She stares at him frozen, racing for an answer only for her mind to draw blank - her knowledge of beds is very inadequate. Grayson waits patiently expectantly for her answer but she doesn't know. "I want that one." She points to a random bed to her left.

The bed a king sized, thick foam mattress that allows a person to sink into the surface of the bed. The height of the mattress is an impressive five and a half inches - thirteen point ninety five centimeters, most importantly Darissa couldn't possibly be visible on the impossibly large bed. Truly, it was fit for a king - or a princess.

"Eh?" Drake's eyebrow curves up, skeptical, but then snorts, "Typical Spoiled Brat" He mutters.

"Are you sure you want this one, we can look at other stores and there's plenty of other choices here." Dick asks quickly.

"No. I want this one!" Her cheeks flush, embarrassed from her brash decision, but it's too late to choose something else. She's too stubborn to say anything now. She can't afford to show indecisiveness.

"Well if you're sure about it," Grayson shrugs.

"Then there's only one thing left to do!" Dick scoops Darissa in a tight hug. Taking powerful strides toward the bed he jumps high in the air, twisting his body so that both land on their back. When they're just above the bed he lets go of Darissa.

She flops on the bed limply, how did he?

Dick quickly rolls of the bed, after a good laugh, he steps away from the angry child.

Shock loses to Rage the instant it tries to take over, Darissa leaps off the on the opposite side of Dick.

Her want for vengeance is stronger than her need to follow Batman's rules. She doesn't have a weapon but she has spent a long time killing, all her life, all her 10 years of life for that purpose, vengeance is hers!

"I'm going to kill you now."

She leaps onto the mattress; throwing herself forward using the edge of the bed she propels herself high enough to grab hold of his ink black hair, yanking his head into a nose dive right into her awaiting knee. Dick however does not go face first but instead to bottom of his jaw meet her knee joint.

The hit while landing missed its mark, Dick felt pain it was not hard enough to bruise much. Her lunges for the neck but Drake yanked her backwards. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Me? No! What the hell is wrong with him?" Darissa shouts back.

"How dare he and how dare you!" She breaks away from Tim steppes closer to Dick.

Darissa's revenge will not be complete without blood drawn, her tiny fingers and sharp nails make a perfect substitute for a blade, and with her hand flat she thrusts her hand out cutting Grayson's cheek.

"Mark my words; I will have my revenge on you!" Darissa points dramatically at Dick.

"God, you're crazy!"

"Did you bring us here to die?" Tim shouts at Dick, "She's going to kill us!"

"Obviously" Dick calls sighing

"I can't tell if that's sarcastic or not." Tim adds apprehensive but no longer hysteric.

"No Timmy no one is going to die."

"Yet." Darissa tacks on, staring Tim down with a critical eye.

"Okay," Dick loudly calls out. He tucks away his phone before walking away from the information card by the bed, "Darissa I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable that are on me but we need to move on to the rest of your things."

The disbelief in Tim's face was evident, "are you serious? Dick she just tried to murder you and threatened to kill us both!"

"I'm not going to debate this she hasn't hurt anyone, and her reaction was justified, partly anyway but She technically hasn't broken any of Bruce's rules yet give her the benefit of the doubt but we're going to finish this list."

"Alright Darcie why don't you pick out some pillows and bed covers from those isles over there if you don't find anything you like we look at another store Okay?"

"Don't patronize me. I however want this list and dreadful day to end." Darissa wanders off ahead again, "and this dreadful company to end." She mumbles before disappearing down an aisle.

"Are you serious Dick? How can you trust her?"

"I don't Tim but I'm willing to give her a chance she's just a kid."

"A brainwashed assassin from birth." Tim rebukes.

"But still a kid."

"I don't think she can change."

"Come on Tim," Dick nudges him gently "that's not very robin like of you. I'm not telling to trust her but to give her a chance to change."

"Do you really believe that?" Tim asks uncertain of Dick's belief.

"Ask me again when this is done." Dick offers as a response.

"I don't trust her, but when it all goes wrong don't say I didn't tell you I told you so." Tim gives him a meaningful glance.

They fall into silence and follow after Darissa. They found her staring intently at a pillow it's a random throw pillow with a quote and a red print outline of a golden retriever.

WHERE I GO, DOG FOLLOWS.

WHERE I STOP, DOG SETTLES.

WHEN I AM LOST, DOG FINDS ME.

WHEN I AM JOYFUL, DOG JOINS ME.

WHO I AM, DOG KNOWS.

WHAT I NEED, DOG BECOMES.

"Have you ever had a pet?"

"Of sorts, he was my champion, not a pet." He was a companion, a friend.

"So you like animals?"

"In a way."

"You want that pillow?"

"I don't need it." Darissa gives one last glance at it before going to the head pillows in the next section.

She stares at the multiple options again, what was the difference between foam and feather stuffed pillows or synthetic feathers, how do you have fake feathers?

Experimentally Darissa reaches out and presses her hand into the pillow the material gives away to the small imprint of her hand. Soft to the touch with a sturdy structure; the pillow above it looks like an enormous cloud a very puffy cloud, she reaches out to touch it as well but finds herself slightly stretching herself upward to reach it properly.

A giggle and a snort from behind her reminds her that she still has company, very much soon to be dead company if they did not find a way to stop irritating her at every single corner, literary!

"Oh man, for an assassin baby that was pretty cute." Tim mocks lightly.

"You're so tiny and adorable; I want to give a hug!" Dick giggles again.

Darissa blinks slowly breathing in deeply, are they serious?

She does not dignify them with a response but she does allow for her head to tilt sideways just enough for her hair to cast shade over her face and slowly turns her head with a hateful glare set in place.

One look at her terrible face and they both sober quickly from their laughing fit. Dick placating with a response of "Never mind, forget I said anything Darcie. Did you decide on which pillow you want?"

She points one of the variations of the first pillow with a firm shape but with flatter frame and rounded corners. "I want three of those." She calls out before moving onto the next aisles without pillows where her eyes become blinded by the fluorescent colors of themed bedding.

The intensity made her involuntarily flinch at her first glance. While those abominations were definitely not an option nothing that was left looked particularly appealing either. She moves on to the next aisle, that has slightly less eye watering color palette there are a few tolerable options. One of which upon closer inspection becomes her first choice. While the Al Ghoul's

Prefer green shades Darissa has a mild inclination for red whenever possible and these bed sheets definitely warrant her interest.

A few other things are picked out in a professional manner before they finish of the things for the bed and move on to the bathroom section of the list.

"Whoa, I can't believe we finished off some of this list!" Dick announced to his current party.

"We still have a lot of other stuff left though and some of it is pretty important." Dick checks the time on his phone and looks over the list one more time before putting both away.

"We need some bathroom stuff first before we can get you a new wardrobe and by then there won't be much left to do."

Darissa grunts barely acknowledging Dick before walking off.

They walked away from the Room Decor section and moved toward the Bathroom Section.

She touches multiple towel sets some fabrics are rough and flimsy, others are thick and coarse, others are fluffy and soft, and those are the ones that make her pause curious the texture is unique. It's not silk it's not linen, but soft, such a strange concept to her the choice of soft and coarse is hers. So she picks out the velvet red towels that felt soft to the touch.

It strangely relaxed her to feel to touch and choose or reject in silence without having a wrong choice just her own whims for her decision.

Grayson seemed hesitant to come too close to her keeping Drake on his other side and away from her reach, there wariness and distance gave time to move away from the edge of confrontational.

Of course things were not meant to last Grayson began talking excessively the moment Darissa had let her irritation go.

She picked out a bathroom mat in the same fashion as the towels and kept walking slowly slipping into anger once more. Several Stores later she had a whole wardrobe of clothes to pass for a commoner and the pleasure of the permanent stench of plastic imitation.

"So Darcie?"

"What."

"What are your hobbies?"

"I don't have hobbies. I train and study. I perfect every technique, I master everything subject and move on."

"But is there anything you like or enjoy?"

"What is there to enjoy? I don't like or enjoy things, I don't have hobbies." It's what makes me a master assassin; It's what makes me her perfect.

"She's lying." Tim grins teasing lightly.

"What, I have not you-"

"She likes dancing. She even performs, when Ra's had us."

"I do not like dancing! It's a skill that I have perfected." It's the skill that allows her to feel passion. If she treated it with more care her mother would forbid it -then she would have never of let her continue her undercover mission. She would have never learned. Well it doesn't matter. It never does.

"You can't hide it, I know you like dancing."Tim jabs at her.

"I do not like dancing. I don't like anything!"

"Why can't you just admit to liking something. Does it ruin your your image of a hard core assasign baby?"Tim mocks her. "Is your ego that fragile?"

She's not supposed to like anything."Of course not. I'm a trained assassin any skill can become useful. Not in your case though."

"You know it's perfectly normal to like something but I guess you've been brainwashed for too long to realize it." Tim says harshly.

"That's enough." Dick calls their attention. "Tim apologize to Darissa for upsetting her."

Darissa turns around crossing her arms. She looks on the verge of crying with how angry and frustrated she is.

"Fine. I'm sorry." Tim says not feeling sorry for the truth.

Darissa retorts not in a forgiving mood,"Tt. I don't want your damn worthless apology. I want you dead. Don't bother sleeping -"

"Enough Darissa" Dick orders. His eyes soften, "You know it's okay to like something to enjoy it."

"But I don't. I demand retribution his -and your slight against me!" Darissa responds aggressively stepping forward.

Dick just nods his head resigned and understanding, "It's also okay if you don't know what you like."

"Don't pretend to know me. You know nothing! Neither of you. You observe one conversation of me with my Grandfather and presume to know our relationship?" This is exactly why she hates him and desire his death. "

"How about we take a bathroom break?" Dick throws out placating the riled up siblings. He points toward the bathroom sign, "Darissa go in and when your ready we'll be waiting outside."

Darissa huffs, she whips her hair around as she turns toward the women's bathroom.

She feels the prickling sensation of moisture that the cold air of the room turns frigid. Her nose twitches, her jaw sets determined. She swallows her anger. She steps into a stall and stares at the small tiles on the wall. A single cold tear runs down her cheek.

She can't do this anymore. Her patience has reached its limit. There's a large vent right above her stall. There's no one else around.

She looks from the flimsy cubicle plastic wall to the painted wall to the tile covered wall. She uses the toilet as a step, throwing her weight onto the tiled wall and pulls her weight onto the plastic wall that is surprisingly sturdier than it looks. She pulls out a short blade and wedges the edge between the grid and the ventilation shaft. She flinches as it pops it open. It has hooks on the inside that leave the vent cover hanging horizontally from her perch. She hooks her hands in the inside and hoists herself up. She shuffles around a bit before stretching her arm and pulling the vent cover and closing the vent.

Her breath evening out as she crawls forward into the dark. Her anger is pushed back father into her mind as her sight adjust to the shadows. Short strands of hair brush her sees a light coming up soon.

She comes to a full stop.

She peers down to observe. The vent seems to lead to a service entrance tucked away between two stores. She reaches for the latch. One hand braced on the vent cover and the other wedges the end of her blade to pop it open. She pears down checks if anyone is looking in this direction before gracefully falling down into a crouch. She stares at the open vent above her head for a moment before turning to the wall on the right and with open palm she pushes the vent up. It rattled in place from the extra force, wincing at the loud clank of metal on metal.

She steps back into the shadows. Taking a small strand of hair she pulls it into a tight braid, she pulls the rest of her hair into a high ponytail and wraps the braid around it.

She pulls up the long sleeves of her blouse cuffing it just above her elbow she tucks in the bottom the shirt in.

Hnn. Not her best work but she doesn't have to change her appearance much to disappear.

She waits for a crowd to conceal her exit, it doesn't take long for a group of loud teens to walk by and she steps out. She walks by them for a couple of stores before deciding to explore on her own. She wanders into a clothing shop.


AN: Okay so I suck at updating on a schedule at the most fundamental level ,but I update. Surprise I'm not dead I just got sick and decided why not write the rest of this?

So double the length of the last chapter, haven't really proof read this so for any mistakes i'm sorry I'll fix it later. I do however have the next five chapters figured out mostly anyways so maybe I will keep up this time.

Anyway some thoughts on this chapter would be great, is it too long? Too short? Hate it?

Some notes:

Darissa is kinda freaking out and I'm throwing a curve ball next chapter.

I kinda don't like how this chapter took so long to write and honestly I'm kinda excited for the rest of this arch. Small time skip coming up in two or three chapters.

Also has anyone ever contemplated how brainwashed Damian was when he first came to Bruce in the comics? Or how sheltered?

Also Adventures of Super Sons comic is the only thing cannon for me right now. Everything else makes me too depressed.

Music advice for this chapter:

Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Fake It by Seether

And Finally not music but a movie if you have not seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse Do It.

Until next time~ Alycat