{the conflicted spoiler}

-Give in a little to my tastes, and observe that I do not like those who sing to a tune of fibs-

Stephanie had been pacing back and forth again, biting at her nails restlessly. The entire situation seemed to only be growing odder and more difficult. She knew that she was going to end up betraying everyone around here at one point or another, and so she told herself not to get attached. But it was too late. Steph liked Jason Todd. She liked Oracle too, as aloof as she was— Steph just figured it was because of her own assassin status that she wasn't being all that friendly, which made sense. Bart had calmed down immensely, and was a hopeful ball of energy.

Once the news came that they had found Tim, Bart had given a whoop of joy.

"Thank god," Oracle breathed, her body visibly relaxing as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Is he okay?"

"He is…" Starfire voice was very distant, as if she was deep in thought. "I am uncertain if 'okay' is the correct word for it, Oracle. He appears to be more like he is hurting very much, and I am worried."

"He'll be fine," Flash cut in. Stephanie stopped to listen, and the man's voice was a unfocused sort of haze, the words blurring together and barely audible. "What we should worry about it the fact that we caught one assassin, but not the other."

"Which one?" Stephanie gasped, hurrying to Oracle's back. Be Ghost, be Ghost, she prayed. If she could just grab Ghost before she wasted anymore time, she could simply tell Ra's al Ghul that she never encountered Jason Todd, therefore she didn't bother with trying to kill him.

Oracle sighed, and waved Stephanie off her chair. "Which one is it?" she asked. "Ghost or…?"

"The other one," Starfire said. "He is larger, and… very much quiet. And sad. He is very sad."

"Probably because he got nabbed," Bart said, zipping beside Stephanie. "Knows he's going to jail, or something like that!"

"No," Starfire said. "He is looking like… I cannot explain."

"We still need Ghost," Stephanie said, pressing her lips together nervously.

Oracle frowned a little bit, and she straightened up. "We need to interrogate him," she said. "Bring him here."

"What?" Stephanie and Bart croaked in unison. Bart pushed forward, grasping Oracle's armrest as she turned off the comlink, and he leaned over her with big eyes.

"O, you can't!" he gasped, shaking his head so fast that his shaggy brown hair whipped into a strange array of upward streaks. "Jason's here, you can't bring an assassin— well, another one—"

"I know," Oracle said, studying her computer screen pensively. "That's why I'm relocating Jason immediately. Kid Flash, you, Cyborg, and Spoiler will take Jason to this address." She reached out, tapping her holoscreen and typing for a moment. A map appeared, and Stephanie watched in awe as she tugged at the screen, and it shrunk down, folding up into s gleaming green card. Bart took it in his hands, watching it glow with a childlike awe in his eyes.

"Um, wait," Stephanie said. "Me? Shouldn't I be here? Because Ghost is my top priority?"

"Yeah, about that." Oracle wheeled around, her eyes wary and narrowed behind the glow of her glasses. "See, I don't trust you. And, usually that would mean me turning you in, however I don't think you're a bad person, Stephanie. Again, I just don't trust you. Or your motives for catching that little boy."

"A little boy who tried to kill you and Jason," Stephanie reminded. She raised her hands into the air in defense, and Oracle tilted her head. "Look, I'm just trying to survive, kay? I don't want any little kid to get hurt, and I don't know what Ra's wants—"

"Ra's al Ghul?" Oracle asked, her eyes snapping wide. Bart nearly dropped the glowing green card, and Stephanie's stomach lurched at her slip up. Fear was creeping at her, slithering up her spine and squeezing.

Stephanie stared between the two of them, and winced at her slip up. "Uh, shit," she said, biting her lip. "Oops?"

"Explain," Oracle demanded. "Now."

"Dude, I don't know!" Steph flung her arms into the air, her heart hammering in her chest. "He didn't tell me! He just wants the kid completely unharmed, and if I don't get him back then I'm dead. Worse then dead. I don't know, he didn't elaborate, and he didn't really need to."

"Stephanie," Oracle said, her face growing dark. Steph gave an involuntary gulp. Oracle gave a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses. "We don't have time for this. Listen, I won't let Ra's al Ghul hurt you, but I'll be the judge of how dangerous the Ghost is. And I'm not ready to hand over any child to Ra's al Ghul, no matter what that child has done. Now get going, before I change my mind about you."

"Fine," Stephanie grumbled, spinning away and grabbing Bart's arm. "Come on, Baby Flash."

"You're not gonna like…" Bart bobbed his head as they walked to the room where Jason and Cyborg had disappeared. "Uh, you know, try and kill us, right? Because that would be a bummer."

"It would be a total bummer," Steph said. "And hopefully it won't come to that." Hopefully. It wasn't a lie, but then again, maybe it was.

"Yo, Boy Wonder and Tin Man," Steph called, knocking on the door. "We gotta head out, like now, so hop to it!"

Cyborg opened the door, confusion drawn across his half-human features. "Uh, you do realize that this kind of thing takes time, right? As in, he ain't walkin' anywhere right now."

"Then carry him," Stephanie said, her brow furrowing. "What's the problem here?"

"We have to go now," Bart said, pulling up his bright yellow cowl. "Come on, Cy, we gotta go, gotta go, Jason can't be here when they bring the assassin!"

"What now?" Cyborg yelped. He looked between them, and he gave a mighty groan, turning around and grumbling to himself, "Nobody in this damn place tells me nothin'."

Steph poked her head into the room, and saw Jason sitting on a bed, watching his mechanical leg go up and down. He glanced at her, and cocked his head, flipping her off with a half smirk. Wow, that's charming. Cyborg whispered something to him, and he made a face of irritation.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked, throwing his head back and groaning. "Are we going to take me home, at least?"

"Uh," Bart said, "don't think so, sorry."

"Bullshit." He winced a little bit as Cyborg lifted him up easily, and he rolled his eyes and scowled up at the ceiling. "I hate you all. So fucking much, you have no clue."

"You're so sweet," Steph said, rolling her eyes as well. "Kay, let's get going."

They left, and Stephanie was glad she wasn't forced into a blindfold again. That had been a little pointless, but then again, everything about this mission felt sort of pointless. Even if she did bring Ghost back, who was to say Ra's al Ghul wouldn't punish her anyway? And what about Deathstroke? What would he do to her when he found out how badly she'd fucked up?

She ended up climbing on Bart's back to get there, which was the single most exhilarating and terrifying moments of her life. She could barely breathe as he moved, and in fact she felt as though she was suffocating as the wind pushed at her, stealing her breath in ceaselessly vicious slaps. Cyborg was trailing behind, carrying Jason while basically skating along the roads of Gotham, checking out the map Bart had given him. He apparently had rocket skates built in, which was so badass and quirky, Stephanie almost wanted to ask him to make her boots that could do the same.

When they did finally stop before another apartment building, Steph tumbled off Bart's back, gasping and clutching his shoulder. "Never again, squirt!" she gasped, blinking rapidly.

"Oops," Bart laughed sheepishly. "You okay?"

"I think I taste bugs in my teeth, crap."

Bart continued to laugh as she picked at her teeth, and found nothing. Her hair was damp from snow blowing back into it, and she was wet and cold and cranky because she'd lost her hat. Cyborg skidded to a stop before them, holding a disgruntled looking Jason in his arms. The boy was glowering at them, his pale face glowing in the darkness. It was getting close to dawn, and Stephanie had exhausted most of her snark, so instead she ruffled her windswept curls and looked away.

"So what apartment?"

"Uh, twenty three," Jason said, holding the glowing green map that Oracle had given them. Bart was already buzzing in, jumping up and down to shake the snow off him.

"Hello!" he called. "Oracle—"

The door clicked, and Bart looked back at them with big eyes. "Wow, cool," he said, flinging the door open and zooming inside. Stephanie followed, noting that the apartment building was similar in design to the one they had been to previously. It was a little dingier, but not too much. They all somehow crammed into an elevator, which terrified Steph to the point where she vocalized her thoughts about the Tower of Terror ride at Disney World.

"Dude, we ain't gonna fall," sigh Cyborg.

"Dude, you weigh a ton," Stephanie said, frowning to herself.

In the end they did manage to exit the elevator safely, and that was a miracle in itself and Stephanie was just happy to be alive at that point. The hall was lined with Christmas decorations, which stunned Stephanie, because she hadn't seen much of anything decorated in Gotham. Then again, it was Gotham. Gotham was literally like the Grinch of all cities. Not much holiday cheer to go around in this hell hole.

Apartment 23 looked like every other door, except for the rather crudely written notes and drawings stuck all around the door. MERRY CHRISTMAS was written over and over again in a squiggly, childlike script, and there were snowmen and snowflakes and Christmas trees, and maybe Steph was just running on empty, but damn it made her happy to see. She knocked on the door, taking a step back and dusting the snow off her shoulder. They waited a few moments and glanced at each other, unsure where they were or what they were doing.

The door swung open, and Stephanie took a step back in surprise as a very tiny girl peered up at them. She was a teenager, that much was obvious from the tight black tank top she wore that bared he midriff, which was flat and built of pure, firm muscle. She was wearing a pair of black pajama pants that were too big for her, pooling around her feet, and her entire body just seemed to be fucking built, Stephanie almost felt jealous and flimsy in comparison.

The girl's dark eyes glittered in the light of the hallway, and her short black hair fell across her face in sharply curling spikes, a mess of inky locks laying unkempt to her chin. She pursed her lips at them, her keen dark eyes narrowing curiously at them. She leaned against the doorframe, and there was a few moments of pure silence as she studied them.

"Uh," Cyborg said, shuffling forward. "Hi, there. Oracle sent us here?"

The girl's head perked up, and she stood up straight. "Oracle," she repeated, her voice small and slow and strangely childlike. She nodded, and she opened the door further, waving her hand at them to follow her. "Come."


How curious. A character I didn't think I could fit in fit in fine!

Go ahead. Call me a goddess. Laughs, no, but let's play a game of HOW MANY CHARACTERS CAN I INTRODUCE BEFORE I BASICALLY HAVE DC'S ENTIRE CONTINUITY IN MY FINGERS.

I would write it so much better, and we all know it.

Victor who go. To the mall. To protest against the political corruption plaguing this horrible city!

god i don't even know anymore gomen