Chapter 44: Lotus and Double J

Authors Note: Hey, once again thank you all for your support and what not. I know I said it but I am going to have a page on my story dedicated to all of the oc's so we all remember who they are what they wear and what not. I know I do a decent job describing them but I want to make sure you guys aren't confused when I talk about characters. It will be a while but I will probably put it on my story or my homepage soon. Okay Whisper and Ronin story arc enjoy. And for you fellow supporters Daniel Wilks has just started up his Gauntlet fanfic called Flame's Beginning so give it a looksee please.

Disclaimer: Batman not mine DC's.

In a small cabin in the forest outside Gotham a young boy and his grandfather were currently climbing a tree around their house. The grandfather was sitting on the top comfortably while the boy struggled in the middle. He was currently clinging to the tree trunk.

"Grandpa, I need help." The boy shouted.

"Maxwell you're ten years old stop acting like a baby and get your ass up here." The grandfather shouted.

"I hate you." The boy whispered.

"What was that?" The grandfather asked coyly. "I can't hear you from all the way down there."

"I said I hate you!" The boy shouted in anger as he looked up at his grandfather.

"What?" He asked.

The boy enraged started clawing up the tree and struggled against the bark tearing at the palm of his hands. He hated how his life had turned out. His mother and father were murdered and he was left with his old school soldier grandfather. He took him out today to teach him to climb but he wasn't having as much fun as his grandpa. Course all he was doing was just making fun of him.

When he finally made it to the top he was ready to tell his grandfather off when he realized that he saw he was gone. He was confused for a moment when he heard a voice from down below.

"What?"

Max looked down and saw his grandfather standing on the ground smirking at him. Max let out another snarl and started to climb down the tree. He was so angry that he didn't see where he was stepping and slipped on a branch.

He fell down to the ground scratching his wrist on a branch. Before he hit the ground his grandfather leaped through the air and caught him before he landed. The two landed safely on the ground and the grandfather placed him on his feet.

"Let me see your wrist." He said as he took Max's wrist.

"Go away!" Max shouted as he took his wrist away. "Why bother having me if you don't even care. Why don't we go back to never even knowing each other?"

"Hey come on, I know we aren't buddies but I'm still your grandpa Leo." The grandfather chuckled. "Come on I'll take you down to this nurse she can make your wrist feel better."

Thirteen years later Maxwell was now an adult walking with his girlfriend Abigail McTavish. She was the daughter of the nurse who healed his wrist and they have been together ever since.

"Hey tomorrow I'm making Leo dinner for his birthday." He said. "You want to come over you know he loves it when he sees us together."

"Sounds great." The red haired girl said. "By the way there's something I need to tell you."

"What's up?" Max asked.

"I love you Max Daniels." She said softly.

She then ran away playfully while Max chased after her. The next night he got over to his grandfather's house but started to panic when he saw multiple dead bodies around his grandfather's house cladded in black jump suits.

"Max." Leo shouted as he walked up to his doorway with blood pouring from his stomach.

"Grandpa, what's happening?" He asked as he held his grandfather up.

"Listen, we don't have much time." Leo grunted. "I lied to you when I told you I was an ex solider."

"What, what do you mean?" Max asked.

"Max, I am an assassin for a dark organization, under the Head of The Demon." He grunted. Max looked at him confused not understanding what he was talking about. "They are an organization that believes in wiping out evil even at the cost of innocent lives. One mission I was ordered to bomb a building in order to prevent a mob boss to get away but I couldn't do that without killing many innocents."

"I don't understand what does this have to do with everything that's happening." Max asked still freaking out.

"I'm a ronin I abandoned my mission, my master and my order. I have been hiding ever since and they found me and tried to kill me." Leo explained. "They do not tolerate failure or desertion and they will kill anyone to get to their target."

Max's eyes widened as he quickly ran into the house. When he entered the kitchen his breathing halted, his heart stopped and tears flowed down his cheeks.

"Abby." He whispered as he looked down at his fallen lover.

"Max." Leo whispered as he staggered into the room.

Max still paid no attention as he held his love in his arms.

"I know it hasn't been easy living with me, but all the years you've been living with me I have been secretly training you." Leo grunted as he pulled out two small knives that were curved like a saber tooth tigers fangs. "These are my scalers, for years I have used them to put the wrong things right now, you can do the same…"

Leo let out one last breath and fell to the ground lifeless. Max was now all alone and left with nothing. Nothing but his blades and his goal. He was now a lone wanderer a master less warriors. The Ronin.

(Four years later)

At Gotham High school was just ending as some of the younger Shadow Warriors were just getting ready to leave. Jenny and Theresa were staying after school that day for cheerleading while Kris and Christina were staying after to complete a project. Sam, Blaze and Jason along with Zack were also staying behind for basketball practice.

Sarah on the other hand was done with all her work and took no part in any extracurricular activities aside from working at the library or staying after for tutoring but she was so good that her students where all set for the rest of the year. So now she was at her locker getting ready to go home when someone leaned up on the locker next to her.

"Hi Zack." Sarah said while putting her books back. The young man grinned as he watched her get ready to leave.

"Hello my love." He said playfully. "Heading home for the day?"

"Yes, I take it you're going to practice?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, but I get done early tonight I figure we could just hang out at your place or go out." He asked coyly as he rubbed his hands together.

"Sorry Zack, but another time." She said. "I've been up all night studying and working on my science project and I just want to go home and decompress for the rest of the night." She closed her locker and looked over to see he bum look on his face. "But, I am free tomorrow afternoon so we could hang out then if you want?"

Zack looked down at her to see her bright blue eyes giving him a teasing look. He ran a hand through his short blonde hair and chuckled shyly. He could never resist those eyes they were one of the many reasons he fell for her.

"Sounds good." He says.

Just then he was shoved into the locker by some guys wearing black coats and masks. Zack gave them an angry glare while they stood there trying to intimidate them.

They weren't.

"Why don't you kiddies watch where you're going?" The leader said. "We're the Shadow Warriors we're professional killers."

"Are you kidding me?" Sarah asked bitterly. "You morons don't even know how to work a calculator let alone a gun. Speaking of which Shadow Warriors are peace keepers not thugs Walter!"

Everyone who was watching let out chuckles and groans as the leader known as Walter stood in his spot in anger. He stomped towards Sarah and stared down at her.

"You better apologize." Walter warned. "You know what I am?"

"Ugly all day?" She stated bluntly.

Walter raised a fist to strike her but was interrupted when Zack grabbed his wrist and threw him against the wall. Walter's shoulder made a loud 'thudding' noise against the wall and let out a grunt of pain. Walter was ready to retaliate when a woman came out of the crowd and stopped the fight.

She was a cross between Asian and Caucasian woman around twenty eight with long black hair and brown eyes. She had a strict look on her face as she ripped the mask off of Walter's face.

"Ms. Suzaki?" Walter stuttered.

"Walter, how many times do I have to tell you to stop dressing in this ridiculous outfit?" She snapped.

"But we're Shadow Warriors haven't you heard?" He asked. "We keep the peace."

"Believe it or not I have done research on them and I know of their goal." She said. "While many may think they are killers I believe they are peacekeepers and I will not have you slander their name by bullying people." She had now backed Walter into a corner as she continued scolding him. "Now get out of here before I report you to the police 'Shadow Warrior'."

Everyone laughed at them while Walter held his head down in anger and shame. He gave a deadly glare at Zack and Sarah before he and his friends left the building while Jayden and Max walked up to them.

"Hey guys." Jayden greeted. "You alright?"

"Yeah, we are fine." Sarah said. "Just some idiots who think they're tough when they are just sponging of the reputation off of others like the Shadow Warriors because they are too cowardly to earn some respect for themselves."

"Screw them," Jayden snorted. "Punks like them are just acting tough in order to get what they want."

"Power and fame is not what the Shadow Warriors are about." Max said. "They just want to keep the peace for all to walk the streets safely both day and night."

"You two sure do know a lot about them." The teacher from before said. Max turned to her and his eyes widened a little at the woman. "Sorry, I am Keilynn Suzaki. My friends call me Kei for short."

"Jayden Warney, this is my escort Maxwell Daniels, we just call him Max for short." Jayden introduced. He then noticed the stares Man and Kei were giving each other. They were ogling each other. Jayden grinned as he stood next to Max. "So, you seem to know a lot about the Shadow Warriors, what is your interest?"

"Oh, well they are a little extreme but I know they have good intentions." She said with admiration in her voice. "They only want peace, if not for themselves then for the rest of humanity."

"They do want that, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't want that peace and happiness for themselves in their sunset years." Max said. Kei gave him a playful look as she held her books. "You work here Ms. Suzaki?"

"I am a teacher's aide at the chemistry lab." She said. "Hopefully I can get my degree for criminal law next year."

"You want to be something in criminal law?" He asked.

"Hopefully something of a detective or a forensics scientist." She said.

"Well um, good luck." Max stuttered. Kei blushed and held out her hand.

"Thank you and good meeting you." She said as Max shook her hand. She let out a giggle and quickly skipped away as Max felt something in his hand. He looked down and saw a note in his hand with her name and phone number on it. Sarah and Jayden walked up next to him and patted him on his back.

"Congrats you got yourself a girl." Sarah chuckled.

"What?" Max asked.

"She likes you dude." Jayden said.

"No, I can't she's a student and I'm well complicated." He said in a low voice and his face started to frown.

"You're something she admires." Jayden said with a grin. "You heard her, she thinks what we do is a public service, which it is."

"Give her a call, she's really nice Max." Sarah encouraged. "Why are you so afraid?"

"I'm not afraid I just don't want to complicate her life." Max sighed.

"You won't now come on, let's get the kid home." Jayden said. Max let out another sigh and nodded as Sarah said her goodbyes to Zack. Sarah then ran up to Jayden with a curious look on her face. "What's up?"

"Zack just got a call from his mom." She said confused. "She wanted to tell him she would be late tonight because someone just stole a case of blood packs from the hospitals freezer."

"Blood packs?" Jayden asked dumfounded. "Of all the drugs and equipment who the hell would want to steal blood packs?"

"You want to look into it?" Max asked.

"Yeah sure, isn't like we have anything better to do." Jayden shrugged.

(!)

Meanwhile, in a dark office a woman in her mid-forties was currently sipping what looked like red wine from a wine glass as she watched countless monitors of television. Some were shows and most of them were news channels keeping her up to date with current events. She was so into her monitors that she didn't hear one of her men come in.

"Ms. Johnson?" The man asked.

"Yes Richard?" The woman asked with a dark glee in her voice.

"Our men have just taken out Falcone's two top lieutenants and acquired this." He said as two more men brought in a couple fetal briefcases. They placed them on the black desk and opened them up.

One was filled with incriminating evidence on some judges, the district attorney and mob lawyers and the rest were files on corrupt board members in both Wayne Enterprises and Warney-Tech. The other was filled wall to wall with wads of cash, possibly for Falcone after he gave them the evidence.

"Thank you Richard that will be all." She said with a wave of her hand. Richard bowed and snapped his fingers motioning for his men to follow him as he left.

While she continued to watch T.V. she finished off the rest of her drink with a slurp as the thick liquid coated the inside of the glass with red muck. She got up from her leather chair in front of the T.V's and walked towards her small fridge. She was cladded in a long black dress with an exposed back and ran a hand through her short dirty blonde hair. When she made it to her fridge she bent down and opened it up revealing multiple blood packs lying on top of one another.

She grabbed one at random and nudged the door closed with her foot as if she were just grabbing a soda from the fridge. She walked over to her desk and set her glass down as she unscrewed the red cap on the nozzle. While she tended to what she called a drink one of the T.V's came up on a segment with Jayden Warney outside of Gotham High today. He along with his bodyguards was currently bumping though a crowd of reporters while dragging a girl behind him.

"Mr. Warney, we still never got a comment on what happened to you and the late Hush." A female reporter asked.

"Here's a comment, f**k off. I gotta get my kid home." He snapped as he was censored by the news.

"Speaking of which, why did you adopt all these children when you yourself have just turned twenty-one?" A male reporter asked.

"Because these kids have the potential to do well, and I don't want to see it all goes to waste." He grunted as a big Russian man opened his limo door.

"What about the rumors that you had a sexual affair with Barbra Gordon?" The same man asked.

Jayden flipped out on him and tackled him to the ground. Jayden's security guards Max and Marcas pulled him off the reporter as the camera panned over to Sarah. Johnson's eyes narrowed at the screen and quickly sealed up the blood bag and reached for her remote.

She rewinds it back to the image of Sarah. She knew she saw this girl before she just didn't know where. She was definitely familiar even for a girl of her age. Not that a crime lord such as herself goes around harassing sixteen year old girls, but she knew she meant to kill her at one point.

Then she remembered she had something in her possession that could help her remember. She went over to her wall safe and undid the lock quickly opening it to retrieve a small wooden box. She carefully set it on her desk and opened it revealing multiple newspaper articles.

Some read 'Double J strikes again' while others gave her full name. This article in particular.

'Jackie Johnson arrested and sentenced to death' the article read.

Her face still scrunched every time she looked at the article and the two Private Eyes who found her. She was doing a job selling organs on the black market and was making a killing both financially and literally. When one day she and her men were ambushed by a whole damn SWAT team. The reason why is they had a tracer on one of the corpses who happened to be their friend and activated it when he went missing.

Afterwards, since she was apparently doing crimes against humanity she was given the death penalty. She rolled her eyes at the memory of how the judge had said she was a monster for kidnapping and harvesting people for money, when she saw it as a public service. Cheap organs around the corner were a good deal for her.

But as she looked at the husband and wife she saw the similarities between them and the girl. Then it hit her like a bolt of lightning as a sadistic grin grew on her face. She was the girl she couldn't find when she murdered her parents.

When Jackie was on death row she made a call for her men to rig some explosives to her cell and break her out. She escaped and was ready to leave town, but not before wasting to two Canadian backwash's.

She made it to their apartment and knew that the only ones who live there was the mother the father and the girl. Jackie remembered stabbing them both repeatedly but she was so busy having fun she completely forgot about the girl. Her brows then furrowed when she remembered she couldn't get her hands on the brat because someone else was in that room that night.

The man with no face she would later know him as The Question. He came in and tore her men apart. She would have fought him, but the cops were closing in so she just burned the apartment down instead.

She thought she killed the brat but now she knew for certain that the girl she was now staring at on the T.V was the daughter of those two cops. Jackie let out a dark chuckle as she reached for her phone and punched in a few numbers.

"Richard, I need you to get me a background check, on a girl by the name of Sarah Copeland." She said while sipping her blood.

"Right away Miss." Richard said on the other line.

Jackie let the blood pour down her throat and let out a sigh of content. She then dipped her right index finger in the glass and drew a heart on the screen of Sarah's face.

"I can't wait to taste you my sweet little morsel." She said while watching the blood drip down the screen completely unaware of the bug under her desk.

On the floor beneath Jackie's office a man wearing a blue trench coat, fedora and black gloves listened to everything she had just said through his ear piece. The man let out a snarl and his face would show signs of anger if he had one to begin with.

"You will not the chance to even smell her, let alone taste her you disgusting monster." The man snarled while trying to keep his voice neutral.

(!)

While Double J made her plans another dark figure was also watching T.V only she was eyeing up Max. Her face broke out in a grin as she looked up at the other woman standing next to her.

"Mistress, it's him, it's Ronin." The girl exclaimed.

"I know Lotus." Talia Al Ghul said.

"Mistress please, I must go after him." She said in a jittery voice that was filled with desire and insanity.

"You really want to get the one that got away don't you?" Talia asked playfully. "You do know that he will blame for well, you know."

"I don't care." She said as she pulled out her kunai's. "I need to kill him, for our order."

"You and I know this has nothing to do with the order." Talia insisted as Lotus eased up a bit. She hung her head in shame and turned to her mistress.

"You are right, but I was given a chance to get rid of him again. Please let me have him." Lotus pleaded. Talia was hesitant at first but gave in to her young warriors demands.

"I will allow this." She said as Lotus's head shot up with a huge grin on her face. "But, you are only to go after him. If you attack any of the other Shadow Warriors especially Jayden, I will leave you wherever I find you. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Lotus answered almost immediately as she saw the green eyes of her mistress, they burned with caution at her as a question crossed her mind. "If I may be so bold mistress, why do you care so much about that boy?"

"That is none of your concern." Talia snapped. "Now, go and get ready, the sun is about to set and with the way Double J and Falcone have been acting they will definitely attract the attention of Ronin. Now go."

"Yes mistress." Lotus said as she ran off to collect her things.

Talia now alone, sat down in Lotus's chair and pulled out a pendant with a picture of a baby boy inside. She let out a heartfelt sigh and held the pendant to her chest as she whispered only one name.

"Jayden…"

Okay, I know I probably caused a few eyebrows to rise and some stomachs to churn, but everything will be explained in time. Now quick Bio.

Keilynn Suzaki Age Twenty eight and a cross between again and Caucasian. Has black hair and dresses in a normal college girl outfit. Jeans shirt coat.

She is on the top of her class and a supporter of the Shadow Warriors and a future love interest of Ronin.

Lotus, not too many details. Age 21, Asian, assassin and has an unhealthy obsession with Max/Ronin. Some jobs she's great some are sloppy and unprofessional. Is Ronin's enemy.

Double J Jackie Johnson. She is a criminal overlord she is an expert in combat, guns, knives and explosives.

She is 45 wears a black dress with a red scarf and has high heels matching the dress. In combat and army camo suit. Why she drinks blood find out next chapter. Is Whisper's enemy.