There are many island nations in the world, each with its own set of politics and vices. But none are quite like Santa Prisca, a small island nation in the Caribbean Sea, and the origin of a neo-steroid called Venom. On the island itself, there was an ongoing fight, not between the local law enforcement and the ones responsible for the manufacturing of the highly addictive drug, at least not entirely.
Deep within the jungle, the battle was one straight out of a comic book's pages or a superhero cartoon. Dozens of thugs, armed with advanced weapons, assassins, and a former scientist mutated in a brutish monster, all working for the true villains were facing a small band of heroes all of whom could be considered young adults, not even out of their teens yet. However, these teens were far from inexperienced and have easily held their own against a multitude of threats. One such teen had a bit more experience than the others as he was facing off against one of the assassins.
The assassin in question was a girl, about 5'6" with thick black hair and olive-colored skin. She was wearing a dark green-colored kimono and it looked to be torn and ripped in a few places. The kimono is tied around her waist, where its length reaches just above her knees, showing her black knee-high boots. To complete her look, the assassin was wearing a white mask with red stripes and a wide grin that looked very similar to a Cheshire cat, from Alice in Wonderland.
This was Cheshire, a member of the League of Shadows and Daughter to the mercenary, Sportsmaster. She was currently armed with a pair of sai. The highly trained combatant was taking on one of the heroes that had come to the island for a deal that had gone bad, or rather right for the heroes.
With acrobatic grace, Cheshire dodged a black and blue whip tipped with glowing blue spikes. She flipped over another slash of a second whip before using her sai to block another attack before blocking a second. The pair of whips retracted to their user, Max Steel in his Turbo Spike Mode. A mode designed for stealth, agility, flexibility, and hand-to-hand combat.
Seeing an opening, Cheshire rushed in, jumping into the air and thrust her right sai at Max Steel's chest, but the hero was able to block the attack with his left arm. The tip and one of the prongs of the sai were caught on a spike going down the Ultralinked hero, allowing him to disarm Cheshire, casting her sai away. Cheshire then tried to follow up with her remaining sai but ended up losing that one as well.
A harsh left cross knocked the daughter of Sportsmaster down, but not out as she rolled across her back and onto her feet.
"You've gotten better, Maxie," chuckled Cheshire as she reached for her belt and took out her collapsible katana, flourishing the blade as she took her stance.
She then dashed towards Max Steel, the hero doing the same. As they got close, the Turbo-powered hero sent a push kick towards Cheshire, who dodged the attack and tried to counter with a high slice of her sword. Max blocked it as he had done with her sai, also blocking the second slice that went a bit lower. However, he couldn't defend himself from a quick spin kick that caused him to stumble back slightly. Cheshire pressed her advantage, and swung her sword down, forcing Max to block the attack with both arms.
"You know me, Chesh; I like to make things interesting," replied Max as he forced Cheshire's sword aside before ramming his shoulder into his foes, catching her off-guard as he then used Turbo Spike Mode's increased flexibility to flip them down to the ground with Cheshire on her stomach with one of her arms behind her back, held by Max Steel, "Even if that means I have to get a little rough."
"I already know how rough you can be, Maxie," said Cheshire as she used her own flexibility and used her legs to snap Max by the neck and force him onto his back while she straddled his hips, bringing her sword, which hadn't fallen far enough away so she couldn't retrieve it, to the Ultralinked heroes neck. She leaned in close enough that their respective masks were nearly touching, "And I hope this little scuffle doesn't ruin our little relationship."
"Depends on how hard you hit me," replied Max, and although you couldn't see it, his tone of voice could easily let anyone know there was a grin on his face.
"Max, is this really the time to be flirting with Jade?" Inquired Steel, the "M" on the hero's chest flashing as the Ultralink spoke. Steel was Max's partner and best friend, an Ultralink who had turned to the side of good and helped Max defeat his creator, Makino. They had gone through a lot, but the last months had been something else entirely to them.
"Worried I'm gonna steal away your best friend?" teased Jade, taping the Ultralink that was safely locked into the suit's chest plate.
Before the Ultralink could respond, the ongoing battle around the duo sounded like it was beginning to wrap up with the heroes emerging victorious.
"I believe that's my cue," sighed Cheshire, disappointed that their little reunion was cut short, but that wouldn't stop her from giving Max a small parting gift, "But it doesn't mean we can't finish this at a later date."
After she finished her sentence, she reached for her belt and took out what looked like a smoke grenade. She stuck it to Max's chest and flipped off him as it went off. Getting to his feet, Max yanked the smoke grenade off his chest and crushed it, cutting off the escaping smoke.
"And she's gone," noted Steel as he flashed out of Max's chest, "Still don't get what you see in her."
"Now you know how I feel when you hit on TJ," replied Max, folding his arms as he rejoined the others on the Team.
"Our relationship is way more complex than just flirting and carnal pleasure," defend the Ultralink, a little quick honestly, "In any case, how are you gonna 'meet-up' with her? She didn't really leave you a note with her address."
As if the world decided to prove Steel wrong, Max noticed something about the smoke grenade Cheshire had used. For one, it was one of those larger smoke grenades, the kind police use during riots and not the ninja smoke bombs. The next thing he noticed was the spoon arm of the grenade was attached thanks to a small string to the rest of the device. Lifting it up, Max noticed a number, followed by a street name on the inside of the arm.
"You sure about that, Steel?" inquired Max, already knowing the answer.
"The smoke grenade has her address on it, doesn't it?" Sighed Steel, rolling his eye as the two join the rest of the team. Rounding up the thugs and whatever villain that couldn't escape, "You two are unbelievable, you know that right?"
Max let out a chuckle as he shook his head, knowing that despite the many, many risks that come with dating an assassin, his life was already pretty risky, even before he and Steel ended up in this world. Besides, he was following what Canary advised he should do. Finding a way to move on from what happened. Sure, this was more than likely not what she had in mind. It was a step in roughly the right direction, not really a huge step forward, but progress nonetheless.
Young Justice: Turbofied Sneak Peek - 1