Once Upon National City
A/N: And here's the long awaited part II of my ninja/samurai drabble! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
Summary: They were all the same. Including the part where they would willingly die to protect the ones they loved. AU. Alex, Kara & Maggie. Family/Friendship.
*** ~ Chance Upon the Midnight Sky – Part II ~ ***
The dance between assassins was truly something to behold. For a moment, Maggie could only watch wide eyed as this new assassin, the one bearing the insignia of the DEO clan, took on three opponents all at once and pushed them back. While unexpected, it was not unheard of, highly skilled assassins who fought with the strength of ten men. Such things were a rarity nowadays though, the way the CADMUS assassins barely held their own against the DEO assassin a testament this fact. Couple that with the arsenal of weapons at the black assassin's disposal, there was no real surprise why CADMUS suddenly found themselves on the defensive.
First came the throwing stars, scattering the trio of grey. Then came the throwing knives, one of which impaled a CADMUS assassin through the eye. Then there was the ball and chain sickle tripping up feet and slashing at wayward limbs, the nunchakus which literally beat the sense out of the grey clad assassins, the kamas which nearly lopped off a guy's arm, and the- Holy hell! How many weapons did this DEO assassin have and where the hell did they hide them all?! The gravity of this situation finally sinking in, Maggie shook off her shock and lurched to her feet again, diving into the fray once more.
Dashing past the black assassin on the right, Maggie slashed at a CADMUS assassin attempting to flank the newcomer, a pommel to the face sending the man sprawling to the ground before any harm could be done. Twirling around at the pounding of feet on the cobblestones behind her, Maggie ducked under what would have been a decapitating strike, her katana shooting upwards and spearing her attacker through the chest.
A flash of steel.
Cursing under her breath, Maggie growled as a blade glanced off of her armored shoulder plate and just nicked her across the cheek. Ignoring the stinging burn now biting at her face, Maggie barreled shoulder first into the grey assassin who almost skewered her through the face and knocked him backwards off his feet. Cutting him down before he could even hit the ground, Maggie was on the defensive again, spinning around a moment later to block an attack from the back, yet another CADMUS lackey sprouting up from nowhere. Weaving to the left without warning, Maggie kneed her opponent in the groin, doubling him over. Grabbing the assassin by the shoulders of his grab, she quickly tossed him straight into another CADMUS assassin bearing down on her, the two of them going down in a heap of limbs.
"Stay away!"
Head whipping to the side at that shout, Maggie closed the distance between herself and Lady Danvers in two seconds flat, her blade slicing through a CADMUS assassin trying to dart around her for the kill. Without only a few seconds to recuperate, Maggie had just barely enough time to parry away a brutal slash which nearly shoved off of her feet, yet another grey assassin trying to capitalize on her open side with her attention focused on their downed comrade.
Hopping back a few steps to put more distance between them, the thwack of an arrow had Maggie cutting the air to her right, an arrow clattering to the ground at her feet in two pieces not even a second later. Despite only turning her attention away for a moment, that was all the first CADMUS assassin needed to get the jump on her, Maggie's eyes widening in alarm as a blade came down upon her head.
Racing to get her katana up in time to block the blow, Maggie already knew she wasn't going to make it. Not completely. She just wasn't fast enough. Despite that fact, she never faltered, never jerked backwards to save herself. The moment she moved, Lady Danvers was dead. And that wasn't happening. Not on her watch. Not after what happened to her parents.
Lowering her center of balance in the little time she had left to fortify her stance, Maggie's eyes never left the sharpened edge looming over her. She always knew this was a possibility. From the moment she picked up her blade and became a samurai, she knew. People died every day, some of them remembered, but most not. Her death would most likely fall in the latter category, Maggie practically a nobody here in spite of her social status. But even so, Maggie faced it head on without hesitation. This was her home now, and she would protect it. She would protect them. All of them. Even if it killed her.
SMACK!
Maggie stared in something akin to slow motion as a blur of blue and blonde flew past her on her left. Lady Danvers she belatedly realized as the CADMUS assassin hell bent on destroying her was sent spiraling to the ground with an open palm heel strike to the chin mere seconds before he could actually end her life. Blinking in absolute befuddlement, Maggie winced the moment the grey assassin hit the ground with audible crack, her blade still raised over her head in defense.
"Wow," she said, Maggie staring at the concussed assassin, flabbergasted. She lowered her sword.
"More like oww," Lady Danvers said, shaking out her reddening hand next to her.
A wry smile.
"I bet he didn't see that one coming."
"I certainly didn't," Maggie muttered to herself, still in shock over what she just witnessed.
Getting her wits about her, Maggie's attention instantly went back to the remainder of the fight only to find it was already over. Through the combined might of Maggie, the DEO assassin and some minor assistance from Lady Danvers, the CADMUS assassins, now closer to two dozen groaning bodies scattered over the cobblestones at this point, had either been dealt with or were in full retreat. Turning back to her charge to check for injuries, Maggie went rigid when she spied the black assassin closing in on Lady Danvers from the back, the blonde unaware of the danger speeding towards her.
"Watch out!" Maggie exclaimed.
With the swiftness and agility she was known for, Maggie dashed between Lady Danvers and the DEO assassin, forcing them back with a diagonal slash. Ignoring the startled gasp of the noble behind her, Maggie pressed onward with another arcing swipe, the black assassin's blade coming up to meet this one in a jarring clank of steel and sparks.
"Wait!" Lady Danvers protested, running up behind Maggie. "That's-"
Maggie barely registered the blonde's words, the DEO assassin quickly forcing her on the defensive with brutal kick to the stomach. Stumbling backwards off balance and with the breath literally knocked out of her, Maggie just barely brought up her sword in time to halt the blade slicing down at her head. Despite blocking the blow a good few inches from her face, Maggie was forced to one knee from the sheer strength of the attack, a growl escaping her lips as her arms trembled to keep the other blade from pressing down even further.
"Alex stop!"
At that shout, the black assassin's gaze diverted for but an instant, but it would be enough. With her opponent momentarily distracted, Maggie quickly switched the grip on her katana, changed her angle of her parry and surged upwards. The DEO assassin back pedaled instantly, Maggie's blade soaring up and wide. Expecting this, Maggie zipped forward before the assassin could get their footing, her blade instantly looping around knocking the weapon out of her opponent's hand, hard. The assassin's sword clanked to the ground the same time Maggie's blade stopped an inch short of their throat.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Maggie said, noting the assassin's subtle shift for what was probably one of many concealed weapons still left on their person.
"I wouldn't if I were you."
Alex glared at the woman samurai. Left with no other option than to surrender, she dropped her hands back to her sides again, motionless. For the moment at least. Refusing to show any further vulnerability, she continued her death stare without blinking, even as the smaller woman kicked her sword across the ground and further away from her.
It had been a while since she was last bested like this. Years in fact, if she counted all of the times she and Kara horsed around in the family dojo recently. That was a moot point now of course, given her current predicament, yet even so, Alex silently contemplated every possible escape vector available to her in this position, specifically the ones which wouldn't endanger her sister any further.
"Please lower your blade," Kara said, completely derailing Alex's half formed plans.
Clenching her jaw in aggravation, Alex was helpless to stop the blonde from stepping halfway in front of her, Kara's back to her, as the youngest Danvers raising her hands pleadingly.
"The fight is over."
"What are you doing!?" the woman samurai demanded, Alex tensing when Kara reached over and started to push the blade at Alex's throat out of the way.
"These men tried to kill you," the other swordwoman continued, tilting her head in the direction of the CADMUS assassins littering the ground around them. "Why is this one any different?"
"Sh- "
Alex's gaze snapped to the back of her sister's head in an instant.
"Uh… They-" Kara quickly corrected. "-won't hurt me."
Feeling a hand on her arm squeezing gently, Kara met Alex's gaze, Alex allowing herself to relax, if only for a little bit.
"Why should I believe that?" the samurai asked, still skeptical.
While in most cases this was usually a good thing for the citizens of National City, right now for Alex, that skepticism was just frustrating. Even though the samurai allowed Kara to push her blade clear of Alex, the other woman was still on guard, ready to spring at a moment's notice.
"Because," Kara said with a heavy and embarrassed sigh. "This is my personal guard."
Alex almost snorted at that title, but she refrained.
"One whom I sort of ran away from earlier," Kara continued, as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
Alex huffed. Sort of ran away from? That was putting things mildly. Leave it to Kara to totally understate things.
"Pardon?"
At the sound of a click, Alex's head snapped towards the sound, her eyes widening at what she found. Whether she had just missed one or backup arrived, Alex didn't know. What she did know was there was now a CADMUS assassin pointing a rifle at them, specifically her sister, less than ten feet away from them. With no time to do anything else, Alex half tackled, half shoved Kara out of the way, a throwing knife shooting from her fingers straight towards the gunner just as a loud bang filled the air.
For a moment the two of them went airborne, and then there was nothing.
Everything happened so fast.
One moment she was talking the woman samurai out of arresting Alex, and in the next, her world shattered.
"Alex! ALEX!" Kara screamed, shaking the limp body in her arms. She barely registered the woman samurai kneeling before them, the swordswoman coming to her side after the gunner was confirmed dead.
"Alex, please…" Kara wept, a terror like no other gripping her.
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't feel anything. It was like Krypton all over again, the ones closest to her dying, the lives of her family snuffed out before she could say goodbye. Despite being only three years old at the time and not really understanding much of what went on in the world, Kara understood death. She understood that when a person died, they never came back again. To think that after all of this time, death would claim her sister, here and now… She couldn't… Kara couldn't…
"Alex…" she sobbed, pressing her forehead to her sister's. "Please don't leave me… all alone again…"
The twitch of fingers. And a groan.
Kara's head popped up.
"A-Alex…?"
Watery blue met startled brown, Kara holding the woman samurai's shocked gaze for a brief second before the two of them were staring down at Alex again. Her heart reverberating loudly in her ears, Kara watched in amazement as her sister seemingly came back from the dead and breathed.
"Ka-"
A coughing fit quickly took hold of the older Danvers, Kara, with the help of the woman samurai, sitting Alex up against Kara to help her catch her breath.
"Kara…" Alex wheezed once the worst had past, Kara's relief audible as she released a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding.
"Alex…" she sniffled, pulling the assassin sideways and tightly against her, much to her sister's weak protest.
Oblivious to the samurai's look of frozen realization, Kara clung to Alex even tighter if that was possible, the brunette practically sitting on Kara's lap right now.
"Alex, I'm sorry," Kara blubbered, rocking the both of them back and forth now. "I didn't know. I didn't mean for you to-"
"Kara-"
"I didn't see him," Kara continued, her voice choked. "And then that noise! And you… you…"
At the sound of something ripping, Kara's eyes snapped open and looked down, staring at the hole Alex had ripped open in the front of her shirt, just over where the bullet had hit. Glimmering underneath was a layer of chainmail, the remnants of the lead round embedded in it.
"Did you really think I wouldn't have had a backup plan?" Alex said, her sister lightly flicking Kara in the forehead.
Kara pouted in protest at that flick, a hand reaching up to her forehead to rub that spot. That was nothing compared to the laugh which escaped the woman samurai however, that sound drawing both Kara's and Alex's gazes to her.
"You never cease to amaze me, Lady Danvers," the smaller woman said, a relieved smile stretching across her face.
"But I-" Kara began, her brows furled in confusion.
"I meant the other Lady Danvers," the samurai explained, looking in Alex's direction. "Not that your assistance wasn't also worth noting as well. It's not everyone day you witness a lady from the upper court render her assassin senseless by punching them in the face."
Heat rose to Kara's cheeks at that compliment, a soft giggle escaping her lips. Then she remembered what else was said, Kara going stiff as a board along with Alex, the assassin already reaching for one of her remaining hidden weapons.
"Fear not," the woman samurai said as she rose to her feet, her head turning in the direction of reinforcements heard in the distance. "Your secret is safe with me."
Glancing around at the bodies still surrounding them for a moment, the samurai turned back to them with a nod.
"Though, the next time you wish to take a midnight stroll Lady Danvers-"
A pointed look at her.
"- and your personal guard is not available-"
An understanding look at Alex.
"- perhaps I could escort you instead?"
Looking to her sister who merely shrugged at her (because really, once Kara made up her mind about something, there was no persuading her otherwise), Kara smiled when she met the woman samurai's gaze again.
"That would be nice," she said.
END
A/N: And there you have it, the end of my ninja/samurai drabble!
Again, this drabble takes place in feudal Japan (aka feudal National City), where samurai and assassins exist. As I've had to tweak history to fit the Supergirl lore, there's probably some things that are wrong in this piece about that period in history.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Japanese terms, I have referenced them below.
Samurai is a class of warriors who usually served as protection for the upper class. For this drabble, samurai answer to the Shogunate. To learn more about them, check out this link (replace commas with periods): en,wikipedia,org/wiki/Samurai
Ninjas, otherwise known as a Shinobis, are covert agents (aka spies) in feudal era of Japan. Most people refer to ninjas as assassins, thinking them to be synonymous, but they're really not. To learn more about them, check out this link (replace commas with periods): en,wikipedia,org/wiki/Ninja
The Nunchaku, commonly known as nunchuks, is a traditional Okinawan weapon make of two sticks connected by a short chain or rope. To learn more about them, check out this link (replace commas with periods): en,wikipedia,org/wiki/Nunchaku
The Kama, sometimes referred to as kai or 'double kai' is a sickle like weapon that was often used for farming. To learn more about them, check out this link (replace commas with periods): en,wikipedia,org/wiki/Kama_(weapon)
A Katana is a traditionally made Japanese sword often used by the samurai of feudal Japan. To learn more about them, check out this link (replace commas with periods): en,wikipedia,org/wiki/Katana