Talia Al Ghul reopened her eyes and raised her head sharply, her breathing a little more labored than usual as her heartbeat had increased. Her eyes wandered across the darkened room because of the night and she forced herself to relax her muscles.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
It was just a nightmare.
She was no stranger to nightmares at all, after all, the status of one of the world's top assassins makes you see things beyond the imaginable that no ordinary people can even imagine.
This nightmare was about the death of her son Damian at the hands of her father Ra's and involuntary shivers ran through her body.
It was too realistic a nightmare for her taste.
Talia's gaze shifted briefly to Slade Wilson asleep on the couch and she raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Eh, who knew the notorious Deathstroke The Terminator didn't snore?
Immediately, Talia's green eyes settled on the sleeping figure of Richard Grayson, who was lying with his back against the wall in a position that was too flexible and twisted and certainly uncomfortable with his head bent down.
Surely his neck would be sore when he woke up.
Talia was slightly surprised that Richard had not even made an attempt to sleep on the bed and that he had instead honored his promise.
Talia's gaze lingered on Richard's form noting the small details, for example how his hair fell over his forehead partially covering his closed eyes, or how his lips were a few millimeters open as his nose inhaled and exhaled softly.
Seeing him so relaxed, so free of the tension that almost always filled his body, the woman's first thought was that Richard was cute.
She frowned heavily, extremely confused about her own thoughts.
How long had she been using the term cute?
Talia never thought before of using an adjective like cute to describe something or someone, especially not Richard.
She could very well throw the knife she kept under her pillow at him and kill him on the spot without him even noticing.
But in her heart she knew that she would not be able to pull off such an act, and not because she was afraid of Wilson and his care for the 21-year-old, but because Talia knew deep down that Richard was the first person in the world (outside of Damian who shares her blood) to inexorably work his way inside her heart making her worry about him.
Since Richard rescued her from this evil version of Batman Talia was able to see firsthand how great a threat the acrobat actually could pose if only he would.
She finally understood what Wilson saw in him and his abilities.
Talia sighed silently as the thought of calling Richard cute came back to her, causing her to blush slightly, and she cursed herself for this unintentional silly and meaningless reaction.
Yet she could not help but feel her heart warm with a pleasant warmth and feeling that made her heart beat faster.
For a very brief moment it occurred to her that there was a possibility that the Richard of her Earth might die in this twisted universe, and the mere thought of losing him permanently was enough to make her feel sick.
She did not want to lose him, not after she was beginning to understand Richard Grayson better.
Her eyes returned to Richard's sleeping figure, and the fact that she practically forced him to sleep on the floor was starting to make her feelings of guilt rise.
Talia shook her head and curled her lips in disgust.
She was Talia Al Ghul, daughter of the Demon's Head and second in command of the League of Assassins, a cold-hearted assassin and one of the deadliest in the world.
She could not feel guilt because of a fool like Richard.
With this thought in her mind Talia nodded to herself and turned around on the other side of the bed, staring directly at the opposite wall from where Richard stood, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to fall back asleep.
...
...
...
...
Talia opened her eyes again after a couple of minutes and let out a sigh of defeat.
The guilt of letting Richard sleep on the dirty, cold floor of the hotel room was rising by the second.
And now that she thought about it, the bed was big enough to hold two people and a good distance between them without them even touching each other.
Talia nodded in the silence and darkness of the room, knowing that these were the reasons she was doing this.
Nothing more nothing less.
Talia silently stood up and used all her assassin ninja training to keep quiet and accidentally wake Wilson.
The mercenary would never end up taunting her, and she did not want to kill a valuable ally.
Talia stood inches from Richard, pondering how to wake him up without him throwing her across the room because of his Bat paranoia.
Finally she decided to give small, gentle taps with her foot to Richard's right leg. After the first tap Richard slowly opened his dazed blue eyes and looked up. He squinted confusedly and disoriented his eyes toward Talia.
"Talia? Did something happen?" he asked in an almost completely silent whisper. He was even more confused when she shook her head. "Then why did you wake me up?" he asked confused but not angry and irritated by her.
This reassured her a little.
"I was thinking you might be sleeping on the bed." the woman admitted a little embarrassed but without pointing it out.
She saw him blink in surprise in the darkness before a slow smirk formed on his lips. "You just can't do without me, I see." he chuckled softly.
Talia rolled her eyes at his idiocy. "Don't make me change my mind, Richard." she declared in a flat tone.
The first Robin got to his feet with a smile. "What changed your mind?"
"I noticed that the bed was big enough to hold both of us without us even touching each other." she casually shrugged, leaving out the part about her guilt.
Dick looked at her for a brief moment before shrugging his shoulders accepting her answer.
A few dozen seconds later Talia and Dick were lying on the bed with a distance of a few inches between their backs.
"Touch me and you're dead, Richard."
"Noted."
Slade yawned, and he stretched, unhinging many of his joints. He slowly opened his eye and grunted as he got off the couch.
He lazily turned his head toward the bed and his one eye widened enormously at the sight he saw.
Dick Grayson and Talia Al Ghul were, for lack of better terms, cuddled together with Talia's head resting on Richard's chest as he circled the woman with one arm, bringing her closer to him.
And Slade immediately noticed the small contented smiles that graced their faces!
Slade eagerly rubbed his hands with a smirk and silently took a picture of the two and then sent it to his former student.
He was sure that not only would the younger man be pleased with it but that he would enjoy having it in the future.
The mercenary nodded in satisfaction.
His mission was making remarkable strides.
A few minutes later Slade found himself leaning against the back of the sofa waiting for the two lovebirds to wake up.
Not that he would call them that when they were awake of course.
He wanted to keep his second eye too, thank you very much.
It was not long before Talia slowly woke up.
Deathstroke watched amusedly as awareness blossomed in the green eyes of Talia who blushed furiously when she noticed the position she was in with Richard.
With a fierce growl Talia pushed Dick off the bed who fell to the floor with a thud waking him immediately.
Slade cleverly hid his amused laughter through a coughing fit.
"WHAT THE HELL TALIA?" shouted Dick as he massaged his head in pain, casting a deadly glare at the woman.
"YOU WERE CUDDLING ME RICHARD!" shouted Talia in turn returning the deadly glare with the same intensity.
Their screaming battle continued for a few minutes until Slade intervened. "Actually, you were cuddling each other."
Now it was his turn to be the victim of two deadly looks.
Before anyone could say anything there was a knock on the door of their room. The three froze and looked at each other and eventually it was the super soldier who went to open the door revealing a man in his 40s.
"Can I help you?" asked Slade with a gentle smile, playing the part of James Robinson.
"I heard screams coming from this room that woke me up!" growled the man annoyed.
Slade hid his annoyance and the urge to kill him on the spot and instead feigned an embarrassed smile. "I am truly sorry. Unfortunately, my daughter and son-in-law often yell at each other even over small things despite the fact that they love each other more than anything else in the world."
Now the mercenary could feel two glances practically burning his back, and he lazily wondered if the two were planning his murder together.
"So you're playing third wheel?" sneered the man with an arrogant grin.
Slade opened his mouth but only then were the words registered in his mind and he hid the horror of the realization.
Fuck, this jerk is right! I'm really playing third wheel between the two damn lovebirds!
Slade narrowed his one eye and a hint of Deathstroke The Terminator leaked into his voice. "I don't think that's any of your business, man."
He noted with satisfaction how the man trembled and the next second found himself alone. With a snort the super soldier closed the door and found himself staring into two pairs of angry eyes.
Slade raised an eyebrow.
"Are you both on your periods?"
The mercenary thought he deserved the punch to the jaw from Talia.
About two weeks passed where Talia, Dick, and Slade went around New York City casually asking many people if they knew the group of heroes who attempted to take on the Injustice League.
The answers they got were not exactly the best.
"Do heroes even exist?" a genuinely confused man had once replied.
His answer had not been at all helpful to their investigation.
The three of them had even traveled the streets at night in their hero/mercenary/assassin uniforms but nothing to do.
Nightwing landed on a rooftop near Deathstroke and Talia Al Ghul. "Did you find anything?"
The mercenary shook his head in frustration as did the other assassin.
The hero of Bludhaven gave a deep sigh and wearily ran a hand over his face. "I'm seriously losing hope," he murmured.
"Are you giving up?" grunted Slade in surprise.
"Of course not." the acrobat shook his head. "But if we keep going around in circles, we won't get anywhere. At this point we don't even know if that group of heroes exists or if it's just bullshit."
"I refuse to stay in this meaningless universe!" growled Talia.
Before Nightwing could say anything Deathstroke suddenly raised a hand, interrupting the conversation. He tilted his head in one direction. "I hear people screaming in fear." he informed them gruffly.
Nightwing and Talia looked at each other briefly before nodding to the super soldier, and together the three of them headed in the direction the mercenary indicated. A few minutes later they immediately saw (and heard) people shouting and running haphazardly away as chaos, destruction, and death rang out in the area.
Nightwing, Deathstroke and Talia froze in place when they saw the source of the chaos.
Accompanied by the Injustice League DarkBat sent them a psychopathic smirk, especially at the acrobat. The Caped Crusader stepped forward from the super-villain team and clenched his fists menacingly.
"Hello Nightwing. Ready for round two?"
