Chapter 5
I guess I gave too many hints because most people guessed who it was.
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Jade narrowed her eyes. Who was she? At her digging remark about reformed villains, she was obviously a villain herself. Or used to be in the days of heroes. Stepping back, Jade studied her. Cheshire. It had to be her. Cheshire was the dangerous assassin of Asia; gifted with the art of poison, martial arts, and a sneaky way of moving around. The reason that she had not recognized her instantly was that she had always seen Cheshire in a mask. So, her name was Ahn. Ahn Ngyuen.
Noticing Jade's hostile expression, Ahn ventured a smile. It wasn't as if they were enemies anymore. If they were going to be something like acquaintances, Jade was going to have to make the next move.
"So," The pink-haired witch broke the silence. "What have you been up to these days?"
She realized she could really use a friend in the show. "Want to talk in my room?"
At her invitation, Ahn smirked. "There's nothing I would like better."
In reaching Jade's suite, Ahn attached a small metal device to the doorframe. Jade nodded, impressed; it was hard to believe that this little doohickey was a hi-tech part of an assassin's gear, often used to detect the coming and going of people in a ten feet radius. Total privacy.
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Gar grumbled angrily. It was just like Wally to spend the day with beautiful girls, and send him to go to some unknown city to pry into the life of some contestant. As the airplane began to descend, he heard a steward's voice telling the crowd to buckle their seatbelts. Gar groaned loudly, and covered his ears with as many pillows as possible. He had specially gathered those pillows during the flight to prepare for this exact moment. His ears always popped rather painfully. He saw a little girl with pigtails staring at him, the man with ten pillows on each ear. He glared making her turn quickly away.
The airplane started its descent. 1..2..3...Gar counted softly…4...5...6..He peeked out the window. This was…amazing! His ears weren't hurting. He wasn't in pain! Ah, so ten pillows was the answer. He grinned at his brilliance.
Suddenly he felt himself tip forward. What was happening…?…uh oh. His seatbelt, he forgot to…His stomach lurched at the thought of the pain he would have if he let go of the pillows he had pressed tightly against his ear. Maybe he wouldn't need a seatbelt. Gar congratulated himself quietly. There was no way he was going to let these pillows go.
A shadow loomed above him. Gulp. It was a huge stewardess. What was she saying? He couldn't hear her, she was pointing to his seatbelt. He shook his head vehemently. No. No way. He had been a perfectly fine passenger the whole plane ride. They should just let it be.
In a minute, more and more stewardesses crowded around his seat, prying his hands off the pillows. Plop. The pillows fell away and landed everywhere. He began panicking. Just then, the plane continued descending, this time at a steeper rate. Gar fell forward at the sudden tilt and bopped his head on the seat before him. He fainted.
At this the entire stewardess' simultaneously groaned. These passengers could sometimes be so bothersome.
Gar squinted; so much light. Where was he? Was he in…heaven? He heard voices.
"People must be moronic not to have their seatbelts on."
Nope. He wasn't in heaven.
"I must admit, I have never had a patient because of this."
Gar glared. He waved his arms to get their attention.
"Hellooo. I can hear you." He called out.
"Oh. He's awake." Gar turned to the speaker, she didn't seem pleased.
"What happened?" He asked in a small voice. He didn't remember, only that he was on a plane, and the stewardess' took his very important pillows. After that, no idea.
"You didn't have your seatbelt on, and when the plane tilted you fell over, hit your head, and fainted."
Gar scoffed. What was she talking about? Men didn't faint. Men were tough.
"Ow." Tears came to his eyes when the woman poked the rather large bump on his head.
Okay, he admitted it. Maybe he did faint, but he only believed it because men weren't supposed to cry either.
After a none too friendly interrogation with the airplane's personnel, he was charged with an additional two hundred bucks for the hospital bill. He stared at the measly pocket change he had left. Those people had stripped him bare! His eyes shifted to his wallet. There had been credit cards in there, credit cards he could have used right now, before good old Dick Grayson had told him he had a problem and sent them through the paper shredder. Roy Harper had helped. He said it was fun.
Fun. Well, how was fun supposed to help him now? Gar thought angrily. An idea came to him. He looked around warily, and then ran behind a warehouse. Dick and Roy and the rest of the guys better not hold this against me, Gar thought while he transformed. In a few seconds, a green alley cat could be seen running down the street.
Gar felt a great tension leave him. For years he wasn't allowed to transform, but this was him, a big part of him. Connecting to this part of himself was something he missed greatly. He considered changing again, to a tiger maybe, but no, a green cat was conspicuous enough.
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"Are you telling me you're still an assassin?" In Jade's suite, the two girls were talking about their pasts, and Ahn had just slipped that she was still a villain.
"Part-time. It's the fastest way to make money; I'm not a very good lawyer. I suck." Ahn laughed easily. After all, she was pretty bad at debating. The only reason she had become a lawyer was she considered everything else kind of blah.
"But…" Jade trailed off in shock. Ahn was still Cheshire? Technically, she didn't have powers, like Robin, but still… And was she supposed to associate with villains?
"To tell the truth," Ahn continued, "I don't like it, it's like a job you don't enjoy, you do it because you have to, for the money, not because you want to. That's why I'm on this show. I marry this rich guy, and I'm done. I don't have to be Cheshire as a living." She smiled. "But the thing is, I am a very talented assassin. Almost a shame to give it up, even for a hot red-headed guy."
"You sure don't have an ego, do you?" Jade remarked sarcastically.
"Eh. I've been told that," she smirked, "What do you think about this guy? You can't deny he's gorgeous, especially with that red hair."
Seeing her sigh dreamily, Jade rolled her eyes. "Do you have this thing for redheads? You mentioned his hair color twice in two seconds."
"Hey," she held up her hands defensively, "I like guys with red hair, and for all I know, you could be changing the subject. Or not." Ahn hastily added after seeing her expression. She knew Jade back when they were both villains, and Jade, had a short fuse. Not smart to anger a friend with hex powers. "By the way, love the last name, Hex. It suits you."
At that, Jade instantly became pleased. It wasn't unusual for her to have sudden mood changes. This was just one of many. "Thanks. But," she added, "don't sugarcoat the compliments to get on my good side. I don't appreciate people who suck-up."
"You're not the only one in here who thinks that."
The two looked at each other. Mutual agreement was a good thing.
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Gar panted as he ran on the crowded sidewalks. Why a dogcatcher was chasing him, a cat was beyond what he could comprehend. He couldn't change into a bird or back into a human here. There would be too many witnesses. As of right now, all he could do was run and avoid this man like the plague. He yowled when a passing stranger accidentally stepped on his tail. How did he get himself into these situations?
Wait. He skid to a stop. That stranger, his mind processed this new thought tentatively, that was Raven.
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I put a lot of Beastboy in this. Hope you enjoyed!