Chapter Five
After the four expert thieves and assassins had gone over their plan, they all left the building in ten minute intervals. First, Black Spider, through the skylight in the penthouse, then, Hook, through the back door of the hotel, and then Cheshire, through the front door with a trench coat on over her costume and pair of glasses over her eyes.
All that was left was Mercy, who was quietly tapping her foot against the marble floor of the penthouse, her shoes on, and her gliding gear on over her regular costume. The gliding equipment didn't impede her fighting or movement at all, Mercy just didn't like wearing it because it added another layer of heat she didn't need. Once the clock indicated that it was her turn to leave, she climbed up towards the skylight Black Spider had exited from, and easily pulled herself onto the roof, then sprinted towards the edge, and flew off of it, opening her arms and legs before she began to plummet before the ground.
She glided easily towards Wayne Tech, her own figure disguised in the dark sky as she carefully steered herself to stabilize her movements in the wind. The comm. in her ear chirped.
"We're in. Stand by. Clearing the building." Black Spider's voice came through as clear as day. She didn't reply, and focused on Wayne Tech, which was getting closer and closer by the second. If they didn't clear the building in time she was going to crash through the window and set off every alarm in the building.
"Security cameras are on loop. Disabling motion sensors and alarms now." Cheshire certainly worked fast, and just in time too, because right after Cheshire announced her success, Mercy had crashed through the window of the office belonging to none other than Bruce Wayne.
As soon as Night hit the floor, and rolled through the glass, she reached up to her comm., and pressed down on it gently.
"I'm in. Continue to clear the building. Meet me at the rendezvous point in three minutes; I should be done by then." She began towards Bruce's desk, and swiftly destroyed all forms of recording devices and alarms not linked to the building's security. She then pulled a flash drive out of her knife belt, and plugged it into the computer on the desk. It immediately turned on the computer, and began downloading files, ordering the computer to display them on the screen before copying them onto the flash drive so that Mercy could remember them and feed the information to Lex later.
"Get lost?"?" The foreign voice caused Mercy to growl. She could see the reflection of Robin on the glass desk. "You're a little far from home aren't you, Night
"You know, I'm a little busy right now," Mercy growled as Cheshire suddenly slammed the door open and flicked open one of her swords. "Talk to my associate." Cheshire dove over Mercy and the desk, straight towards Robin, and roared as she began to attack. Robin dove out of the way, and Night pulled a push knife from under her sleeve and held it in her hand while she read.
"Night! You didn't tell me you'd met the Boy Wonder before!" Cheshire teased as she fought the boy. Night continued to read, but her face underneath her mask twisted in confusion. Who was Night? She wondered. I'm Eternal!
"Old friends, less talking more slashing." Eternal replied with a snap. Cheshire let out a low whistle, and continued to fight Robin ruthlessly.
"Time?" Cheshire demanded. Eternal glanced at the loading bar for a split second and returned to her reading.
"Thirty seconds. Wrap it up Cheshire." Night continued to read, and Cheshire smirked under her mask, and then pushed Robin back towards the edge of the broken window so hard he nearly fell. Cheshire threw a dart towards him, and as he evaded it, but he stepped back too far, and slipped out the window, leaving him to catch himself on the edge of the broken window, dangling by the tips of his fingers. Cheshire walked up towards him slowly, and chuckled.
"Oh, you poor thing-" Cheshire was interrupted by Night.
"Don't play with your food, Cheshire just get rid of him!" Night snapped as she began to wrap up her reading. Cheshire growled, and then stomped on Robin's hand so hard even Night heard his fingers crack, but Robin did not give them the satisfaction of a cry. Cheshire then lifted her other foot, and stomped on Robin's other hand even harder, causing the Boy Wonder to cry out, and release his grip on the edge of the window, and fall, screaming as he plummeted towards his fatal ending.
"Done. Lets get out of here." Cheshire turned around as Night spoke, and she watched her pull out the flash drive before turning on her heel, and sprinting towards the window.
"Sayonara, Cheshire." Night said as she leapt out of the window, and disappeared into the night, leaving Cheshire to sprint out of the billionaire's office on her own.
As far as Night could tell, or, Eternal, the job had been a success.
-0-
Once Night had come back to hotel room after taking the long route, she carefully repaired the skylight, and then allowed herself a moment to bask in her future wealth. In total, Lex would owe her close to three million after tonight. Three million American dollars.
"Wonderful…" She sighed as she leapt off of the bed, and walked towards the main room, but the sudden feeling of another presence caused her blood to run cold, and before another soul could blink, she pulled her curved knife out of its sheath, and spun on her heel, thrusting it into towards the figure that had been standing next to the wall. The masked figure moved just in time, and the knife lodged into the wall, but Mercy pulled it out quickly, and her second curved knife slide out from under her sleeve and into her hand. The figure threw a weapon, and as Mercy deflected it with one of her knives, she noticed its bat-like shape.
"Oh, this is quite the honor." She chuckled as she watched the Dark Knight himself fan out four more batarangs in his hand. He was just as ready to strike as Mercy was. He didn't speak. "I get to fight the Bat." Mercy sprinted towards him, and vaulted over the couch, dodging and deflecting batarangs with no trouble once so ever. She was less than a foot away when she heard the familiar sound of an arrow being released, and she swiftly sliced the arrow in half with her knives, and slashed at the Dark Knight, just for him to pull out another set of batarangs, and block her blows.
"And you brought help? I thought you worked alone?" Mercy snarled as Night. She heard another arrow, and leapt off of Batman just in time for it to lodge in his own Kevlar lined costume. Mercy landed on the kitchen counter, and finally spotted Green Arrow taking aim from the second bedroom, and pulled out a poisoned spike.
She threw it, just to watch with an eerily calm demeanor as one of Batman's batarangs knocked it off course. Green Arrow finally came out of his hiding place, an arrow aimed at Mercy's forehead.
"Mercy!" Mercy froze at the sound of her real name coming from an enemy's mouth. Batman had been speaking, and as he walked forward, he held another handful of batarangs, poised to throw them at Mercy, who was still poised in defense, her two curved knives in her hands.
"What do you want?"Mercy demanded with a snarl; she took a step back on the counter, and knocked over a glass of brandy Black Spider had left behind. It crashed to the floor, and interrupted the sudden silence in the room. She saw Green Arrow smirk from across the room, and another throwing knife slide out from under her sleeve with a flick of her wrist. She pointed her knife at him.
"Smirk at me again and I'll slice your lips off." She snarled again, keeping an eye on Batman in her peripherals. He was still poised the same way, a frown on his face and batarangs prepared to throw at Mercy, or Night.
"That's quite the threat. But we're really not here to fight." Green Arrow replied, lowering his arrow. Mercy couldn't help but let loose a laugh.
"Oh that's a splendid idea, lower your weapons and make it easier on me." She raised her knife higher, and Batman threw one of his Batarangs. Mercy deflected them, and one even narrowly missed Green Arrow's head. Green Arrow swiftly glowered at the Dark Knight.
"Mercy, we're here to help you." The deep growling voice of Batman came from nearby, and Mercy allowed her eyes to divert towards it for only a moment. Then the feeling of another presence nearly overwhelmed her.
"Three against one? Is that what you call helping?" Mercy snarled as she whirled around, now completely surrounded. Black Canary appeared from the shadows behind her. "What do you want?"Mercy was nowhere near panic. She was furious. She had been trained to take down every member of the Justice League, at the same time, and she was sure as hell that this wasn't a test.
"We want to give you the opportunity of a better life." Black Canary said from behind Mercy, her voice gentle. Mercy ruthlessly threw a knife in her direction, and Black Canary narrowly dodged it. Upon closer inspection, a tear through her jacket revealed a cut left by the blade now lodged in the far wall of the penthouse.
"What better ways to do that then attack me in my own hotel room…" Mercy snarled as she lowered her weapons, but kept alert, her knuckles turning a bright white front the death grip she had on the handles of her knives.
"And we apologize for that." Green Arrow stated as he took a step forward, Mercy pushed his advance back by pointing one of her knives towards him. He raised his hands, lowered his eyes towards the floor, and took a step back with a huff. "But this was the only way we could contact you without raising the suspicions of your employer." He sneered. Mercy scowled, and muttered a swear word under her breath.
"We know about your mother, your affairs, and your transactions, Mercy." Batman said as Mercy glowered at him from underneath her mask. Her gray eyes might as well have thrown a blade themselves. "We know you've been working for a way out."
Mercy growled.
"A way out? I'm already there. If you know of my transactions, then you'll know that my Mother is taken care of and I'll be a speck of dust in the wind by tomorrow afternoon." She snapped. Even though Mercy was angry, she sheathed her knives, but made sure to keep her guard up as she took a seat on the couch, now facing all three Justice League members. Batman also put his batarangs back in their place, while Black Canary and Green Arrow stood with their arms crossed.
"And you really think Luthor will go through with handing over three million to you?" Batman groveled as Mercy crossed her legs, her arms spread wide across the head of the couch.
"I've known him my entire life. I know when the man is lying and when he'll actually pull through." She sighed, plus the fact that she knew exactly how, when, and where to kill Lex if he didn't go through with their agreement, and she even knew how to keep his android bodyguard Mercy out of her way. "And he's sitting on top of a multi-billion dollar empire. Three million wouldn't even make a scratch in that man's check book. Not even a knick in Bruce Wayne's for crying out loud." She twirled a knife between her fingers as she spoke. Black Canary's eyes narrowed and her hands moved to her hips.
"You don't want to help people? Like you did the Justice League last night?" Black Canary asked as she gave Mercy a quizzical look. Mercy's knife stopped twirling as she remembered what the android Mercy had said to her afterwards.
"Finally got to do something decent with your talents?"The words echoed through her mind like a broken record. She looked up at Batman from underneath her mask, and pulled down her scarf, revealing the full black helmet she wore. She noticed Batman narrow his eyes at her.
"Has Luthor been watching me this entire time?" She asked quietly, her voice almost a whisper. After a moment, Batman only nodded.
After all this time after Lex had told her she was being replaced, she was still his plaything. His toy and endless source of criminal entertainment.
"You were Lex's first successful guardian. His second Eternal." Mercy's head snapped up towards him at the sound of the name. "It was only a matter of time before you found out he has never taken his eyes off of you."
She could feel her rage bubbling to the surface. Lex had promised that he would keep his hands off of his precious creation's life after her 'retirement' and yet more and more anonymous clients came running to Mercy, offering thousands of dollars for a measly piece of metal or a mere diamond. All of them had been Lex. He had been building up his creation's fame in the press and teasing the Justice League with her. She had been his puppet this entire time.
Mercy suddenly stood, and reached up towards her mask, causing the three Leaguers to tense, but she paid no mind, because she was about to break her number one rule- never remove your mask.
She pulled it off, and her braid fell down to her waist as it always did, but this time, instead of coming face to face with a gentle girl, Mercy's rage was the first thing you saw.
It was truly a strange sight, seeing the infamous Eternal without her mask and scarf on, but it meant good news for the Leaguers in the room. She was ready to join them.
"How?" She demanded, looking directly at Batman with her gray eyes. Green Arrow and Black Canary were still having a difficult time accepting the sight of the small girl in front of them being the cause of their troubles as of late, and Mercy could tell.
"Cameras, people, decoys, listening devices." Batman held out his hand, and then turned it over. Three small cameras Mercy had not even noticed fell out of his hand and onto the floor.
"We disconnected them once we got here." Black Canary announced. Mercy shot her a suspicious look.
"How do I know you didn't just bring those with you?" Mercy spat, waving her mask around as she spoke. She was certainly losing her patience here, and the line was getting a little too close for comfort. Batman kicked one towards her, and she eyed it from where she stood.
"He even left his logo on the side. Made it easy for you." Green Arrow chirped. Mercy glowered at the tiny camera, and then withdrew a knife from her sheath. She ran the flat side along her thumb, and then with lightening speed threw it at the camera on the floor, slicing it in half with ease.
She then turned around, facing the window that displayed Gotham's city skyline in the finest way. Billowing smoke and all.
After a few moments of silence, Mercy turned her head to the side.
"So what exactly are you offering?"
-0-
That morning, Black Canary had escorted her out of the Waldorf herself, long before Mercy's car should arrive, and returned her to Star City. She informed Mercy that she would require a new alias, a new costume, and a new everything in order to join this team they had informed her of last night.
But Mercy was still a bit skeptical. After seventeen years of knowing Luthor, she thought she had him all figured out. Apparently not.
"We have fifteen minutes to gather your things and get back to the car. Understood?" Canary said as she put the car into park in front of Mercy's apartment complex. Mercy only nodded, and stepped out of the car with Canary, whom both were dressed in civilian clothes. The two headed up the apartment, and Mercy quickly unlocked the door with her key, and held it open for Canary, who stepped inside silently.
Her mother was gone. As Luthor promised. But the briefcase filled with the money he had promised, was not. He claimed he would leave it where her mother had lied for the past three years. All that was there was a line of dust outlining where the hospital bed used to be.
"Come on." Mercy snapped as she led Canary to her room. She showed Canary her closet, and the hero began packing her clothes into large duffle she had found at the top of the closet. Mercy knew from experience that everything she owned fit inside two medium sized duffle bags. Clothes and weapons.
Mercy had brought up her duffle filled with her costume and knives with the intention of stashing the 50,000 dollars tucked underneath the floorboards where she had moved it before she left for Gotham, and the rest of her armory. Canary and Batman protested until she pointed out that sharp objects where her area of expertise, if they took that away from her, she would retract her acceptance. The compromised, and told her she was not allowed to use any sort of lethal poison any longer.
Batman was having a new costume made for her; he said it would be very similar to her own costume now, but different in order to keep her past separate from her future.
After she had carefully arranged her weapons in the bag, she placed the briefcase with the money inside of it into the duffle as well. The blood money was not a part of the deal, but the briefcase was small enough to make it look like a weapon was stored inside of it.
"Ready?" Canary asked with the bag full of Mercy's clothing over her shoulder. Mercy looked up from her bag, and notice her target on the wall. She plucked it off of the wall as she walked towards Canary, and nodded, slipping the tortured yellow target into a side pocket of her bag.
This is your new beginning Eternal. Mercy thought to herself. This is where you change yourself for the better, or for the worst.
-0-
Once Canary had brought Mercy to Mount Justice and gotten her inside without alerting the so called 'team' she would be joining, Batman had approached Mercy, and asked for her old costume. Mercy had very reluctantly handed it over, and Batman in return handed her a black bag with a set of dual wield kukris on top of it.
"Put that in your bag. You can look at it later. If there's any problem with the fit, let Black Canary know, she'll bring it to me and I'll have the adjustments made. As for your old suit," Mercy caught herself staring at it longingly, and looked back up at Batman. "I'll hold it."
Mercy looked down at the black bag with the new costume inside of it, and the dual wield kukris, and suppressed a sigh as she placed them inside of her bag with her other weapons.
Canary left her for a moment to take Mercy's things to her new room, and Batman simply walked over to what Mercy assumed to be the Batmobile, and place her old costume inside. She was tempted to kiss it goodbye, but she knew good and well that that would have been absolutely ridiculous. She noticed him walking back ring in between his fingers, and he held it out to her once he was within arm's reach.
Mercy eyed it for a moment, and then took them from his hand.
"This ring is from a member of the Justice League named Zatara. He made it just for you so that you could keep your identity a secret, which is something you should never give away- even to those close to you." He explained as Mercy inspected the ring. It was a small abstract bird made of silver, onyx, and turquoise. She actually thought it to be quite adorable.
But once she was wearing she put it on, she didn't feel any different, and she looked at her hands with a confused expression on her face. Then, she leaned down towards one of the mirrors on one of the motorcycles nearby her, and had to suppress a gasp. Her eyes were now a light blue, so close to her natural gray that you had to look closely to notice, but her hair was now a deep shade of red instead of its usual midnight black, but when Mercy picked up one of her long locks of hair, it still appeared black. She looked back at the mirror, and realized with a chuckled that she also had a slight tan to her skin with the ring on, and out of curiosity, held up her pale hand to the mirror for comparison. When she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she glanced up, and spotted Batman walking silently away from her.
"Nice…" She muttered as she tucked a piece of midnight hair behind her ear, and began to follow Batman, who she hadn't realized was walking towards the approaching Black Canary, who had changed into her usual uniform.
As Mercy approached, she heard Black Canary announce to Batman that the team was waiting in the briefing room, and seem to be more ancy than usual.
Great. Mercy thought. She looked towards Canary, just to spot her smirking at her. For a moment, Mercy forgot exactly why Canary was smirking, and glared back.
"Zatara did a good job." She noted as she looked Mercy over. Mercy realized then that she was going to have to get used to people looking at her strangely. Canary looked Mercy in her now pale blue eyes, and smiled. Mercy felt herself feel shocked that the smile looked genuine. Not like the kind she had seen most of her life. Pasted on, faked, or so heavily botoxed that all they could do was smile.
"Ready to meet the team?" Canary asked as she turned on her heel and led them down the hallway that led deeper into Mount Justice. Mercy made a small sound of approval as she gazed about, and almost blindly followed Black Canary and Batman down the hall as she moved her bag to rest on her shoulder and began to twist her ring around her finger. She could already feel a new habit forming and quickly stopped herself and forced herself to cross her arms.
Once the three reached the door, Canary pushed it open, and stopped to motion for Mercy to come towards her so that she and Mercy would be the first two to enter. Mercy swallowed, and then approached Canary as she pushed the door open, revealing the group of six junior heroes she had saved just two days ago.
Once their eyes landed on Mercy, she could feel their excitement grow, and before she knew it, Kid Flash had suddenly appeared at her side.
"Hey there-" Kid moved to place his arm over her shoulder but before he could get his arm anywhere near her, Mercy's instincts kicked into overdrive, and she snatched his arm, and threw him over her head so hard that dust kicked up off of the floor when he fell several feet away from them.
Mercy suddenly realized she had just attacked a member of her new team, and her now blue eyes grew wide as she straightened up, and eyed the five left standing in a group before her. They were all watching her, their eyes just as wide as hers.
Suddenly, Artemis threw up her hand, and pointed towards Wally.
"I like her already." Artemis smirked as 'Wally' finally picked himself off of the floor with Canary's assistance. Mercy grinned at Artemis, her old friend, and then released a small chuckle.