Gotham City
When they returned to the League's estate and reported their progress to Al-Owal, their mentor gave them a brief nod of satisfaction. "Be careful," he warned them. "You will be in her space. Were anything to go wrong, you will be at a disadvantage."
It was wise advice. Barbara Gordon might be stuck in a wheelchair, but she was still an integral part of Batman's operation and a dangerous element. If she hadn't been, then the League would have never ordered Laurel and Shado to spy on her in the first place. Laurel kept that in mind as Shado and her left Al-Owal for their room upstairs. Now that Barbara had invited them into her home, it was decided that they could no longer watch her at night. Those duties would be delegated to others, while they would get to sleep.
An idea that lasted all but a few hours before they were woken up in the middle of night, ordered to put on their armor and meet everyone in the dining room. "The master's partner has arrived," Al-Owal told them grimly. Laurel and Shado exchanged uncertain looks.
For his plans for Gotham City, Ra's had elected to partner up with one of the local criminals of the city, a 'supervillain' that regularly opposed the Batman — like they were in some kind comic book or something. He fully intended on killing the man once the plan was completed, of course. But for now, Ra's needed him, and that was the end of that, no matter how much of affront it was to the League's tenants. Honestly, for all his devotion to the League and its code, Laurel's master could be such a hypocrite.
Once they were dressed and down in the dining room, they were ordered to line up against the walls and stand imposingly. A display of intimidation and power, no doubt. Laurel was careful to keep still and not fidget as Ra's seated himself at the head of a long dining table, Al-Owal and Nyssa both flanking him. He was dressed in armor as well, though this particular set had more ornate detailing — another show of strength and wealth to compliment the one they were already supporting.
They waited for several minutes until finally, the door to the mansion was kicked open. A tall, lanky man with green hair and chalk white skin, dressed in the gaudiest outfit Laurel had ever seen, sauntered into the room with a literal red smile on his face. Hanging off his arm was a woman with blonde pigtails and white mime paint, giggling psychotically. For whatever reason, she had a gigantic mallet strapped to her back.
One of the League members next to her leaned towards her ear and whispered their names to her. "The Joker. And his lover, Harley Quinn."
"Ra's, old buddy pal!" The Joker greeted the other man bombastically, as if he were an old friend. "Welcome back to Gotham!"
"Mr. Napier," Ra's greeted back, nodding politely.
Joker waved him off as he pulled away from Harley and slung himself into the chair on the other side of the table. His girlfriend quickly moved to throw herself all over the back of her lover's chair, being deliberate to show off her shapely legs and ample bust. "Pish-posh, none of that Mr. Napier stuff! Call me Joker, baby, that's who I am now." He leaned forward, resting his elbow against the table as he propped up his chin. "And might I say, I'm quite surprised to be here. Considering how aligned you are with Batsy, I'd figure you'd try to kill me instead in order to get in his good graces. You're still trying to convince him to be your heir, right?"
Next to Ra's, Nyssa twitched but showed no other outward reaction. Her father, either ignorant or uncaring of it, laced his hands together in front of him and tilted his head. "I am. But unfortunately, the Detective needs proper motivation to understand that he cannot save this cesspit of a city or anyone else with his paltry, half-hearted methods. You have always been the one to remind him of this the most, so that is why I have summoned you here. In this matter, our goals align."
The other man looked intrigued, the madness in his eyes wild. "True, true," he agreed. "Everyone knows how much I enjoy driving Batsy mad. In fact, I already have a plan in the works!" And with that, he abruptly turned away and shot out of his chair, directly towards one of the members of the League, not far from where Laurel and Shado were standing. Before the man even had the chance to defend himself, the Joker had pulled up the flower on his jacket and squeezed it, causing some kind of misty, green gas to come out and strike him with it.
Screams echoed throughout the room as the assassin collapsed to his knees, clutching his head. Then, those screams slowly morphed into an insane laughter as he ripped off his hood and mask to reveal his unnaturally wide grin. His face was beginning to pale into the same white-chalk color that characterized the Joker, and his hair was beginning to take on a green tint. He drew out his sword and began swinging ferociously and wildly, taking down two of his fellow assassins before he was finally restrained by four more pouncing on top of him.
It was the most terrifying thing Laurel had ever seen, right up there with Slade's Mirakuru-induced insanity. Her composure long gone, she backed away from the entire tableau with her fellow assassins, only barely resisting the urge to find Shado and cling to her with everything she had. Another horror to add to the nightmares, and this one, Laurel knew, was something she would never forget.
She wasn't the only one. Practically every assassin in the room looked horrified. Both Nyssa and Al-Owal were visibly shocked and disgusted. Only Ra's managed to keep some semblance of neutrality, merely narrowing his eyes at the scene.
Then Harley Quinn broke the tension by clappying her hands together, outright applauding what her boyfriend had done. "Beautiful, puddin'!" she exclaimed, not a hint of any of the aversion that the League felt. Now even Laurel couldn't hide her disgust when she looked at the other woman. And Ra's was honestly thinking of working with these two maniacs? When they were the very embodiment of the evil the League was sworn to wipe out? Hypocrisy didn't even begin to cover this.
"Thanks, hon'," the Joker said, sauntering back to his girl and planting a big wet one on her face. After making out for a bit, they separated, the clown turning to shoot Ra's a psychotic grin. "What do you think, by the way? I call it Jokerizing, and the gas, Joker Gas. Took some experimenting, but what can I say?" He shrugged, his grin widening. "That's the best part."
Ra's didn't say anything at first, and Laurel hoped, rather desperately, that he'd come to his senses and give up on the partnership. Maybe even declare the whole plan a wash and return all of them to Nanda Parbat. But then he opened his mouth, and Laurel had to resist the urge to scream. "It's… impressive, I must admit. I assume you have some kind of plan in the works involving this concoction?"
"I was thinking I'd douse all the Rogues with this and let them loose on the city," the Joker admitted, ambling up closer to Ra's until he was almost in the man's face. He planted his hands on the dining table and leaned forward so they were almost eye-level, ignoring how both Al-Owal and Nyssa had tensed and started drawing their weapons. "'Course, that'd be a bit difficult. The others don't like me much, you know. Any invite I send them will be thrown in the trash without so much as another glance."
"But you? You've got cred with all of them. Ivy, Scarecrow, Croc — they're scared of you in a way they'll never be of me. If you call them over, they won't ignore it." The villain leaned forward a bit more so his nose almost touching Ra's'. "And once you do, I can Jokerize all of them like did that poor chap over there. Just think, Ra's — every Rogue in the city, completely out of their minds, wreaking havoc throughout all of Gotham. If anything will break dear old Batsy and make him beg for your help, it's that."
It was a powerful pitch, and Laurel could pinpoint the exact moment Ra's had been convinced. His desperation to make Batman his heir had overridden all of his remain morality and common sense. Her master gave a consenting nod, and Laurel felt both pure revulsion and an overpowering sense of fear. He had just knowingly made a deal with the devil, and whatever happened next, they were all responsible for it.
"You can stay here at our estate to continue the synthesizing your drug," Ra's declared, and no assassin present was pleased even if they knew better than to protest. "And as for the assassin you turned, can you turn him back?"
"Nope," the Joker replied, popping his lips at the 'p'. "We could just set him loose, have him keep Batsy on his toes, but I'd rather not tip the ol' stick-in-the-mud off to what we're planning. Why? Do you need him or anything like that?"
Ra's closed his eyes. "No. Not for anything important, at least."
"Gotcha. Harley?"
"On it, puddin'," his girlfriend said, and then she drew out a gun and shot the Jokerized assassin in the head. Laurel flinched at the sound as she watched the body collapse.
"Take care of the body," Ra's said to Al-Owal, not even bothering to look at the corpse. "And get the floors cleaned. We have work to do."
It was callous and cruel, and Laurel wondered why she had ever expected anything less.
The following night, Laurel and Shado asked for a watch shift at the Barbara's clocktower, using some excuse about making sure their quarry wasn't suspicious of them. Al-Owal accepted it easily enough, which is how they found themselves situated in a far-off rooftop, watching the Clocktower uselessly as they listened in on the bug they had planted on the exterior of the building. What was important about it is that they were by themselves, with no one keeping an eye on them — the perfect place for a private conversation.
"There's no way we can go along with this Shado," Laurel hissed to her best friend, wringing her hands together in a nervous gesture. "That Joker guy is completely insane!"
"I know, Laurel."
"And his girlfriend is just as crazy as he is!"
"I know, Laurel."
"If we do this, if we follow Ra's' orders, innocent people are going to die. We can't do thi—"
"Dammit, Laurel, I know!" Shado finally snapped, turning to her friend with a furious expression. Upon seeing Laurel's shock, however, her anger deflated, and she sighed. "You're right. This is wrong, so wrong. But what can we do?"
The other woman opened her mouth to answer, only to falter when she realized she had nothing to say. Shado was right. What could they do?
"We can't protest about the plan to the Demon's Head," Shado continued. "The very moment we complain, he'll have us cut down without a second thought. Neither of us are members of his elite, we don't have his ear. Nor can we go to Batman — we're members of the League, he has no reason to trust either of us, and the moment we betray Ra's, we'll be lucky if he kills us."
Her voice softened. "I hate this too, but there's no way out of it, Laurel. We swore a vow to the League, and they'll do everything in their power to make sure we keep it."
"So what?" Laurel cried, angry tears building in her eyes. "We just suck it up and let them destroy this city?"
Instead of saying anything, Shado looked away, which was enough of an answer on its own. Laurel hugged herself, digging her nails into her skin. Despite everything she had learned these past few years, all the skills that had allowed her to survive living in hell, she had never felt more helpless. This was just like the Amazo — something terrible was happening and she knew about it, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. And worse than that, this time she was an accessory to it.
God. How had it come to this? Wasn't there anything she could do? That they could do?
"Maybe it would've been better if we had died on that ship," she whispered, scrunching her eyes closed. It wasn't the first time she had thought such a thing, or even said it out loud. But never before had it felt more true than now.
"Yeah," Shado agreed, years of exhaustion pouring out in one breath. "Maybe."
Regardless of whatever protests they now had towards the plan, they still had a job to do. So when Friday came, Laurel and Shado dolled themselves up for their visit to Barbara's. They dyed their hair, put in their contacts, picked up their clothes from the League's general supply and then used a taxi to enter the city and head directly towards the place their "friend" called home. If Laurel had been feeling guilty before, it was nothing compared to now. Every fiber of her body was screaming at her to break cover the moment she entered the information broker's home and confess everything to Barbara in hopes of stopping the atrocity that was about to strike Gotham. She only barely managed to hold herself back, and even now she was wondering if that was the right thing to do.
Barbara greeted them inside with a smile, guiding them to the dining table in her kitchen where a few pizza boxes were stacked up. She had gotten them food to eat while they worked on their "papers". How kind of her.
Their host passed them some paper plates and cups so they get water. They accepted the refreshments gracefully as they settled down and took out the drafts for their papers. Barbara produced some kind of writing guide from out of nowhere, and before Laurel knew it they were sinking into the familiar lines of school work.
It was relaxing, in a way. Something to keep both of their minds occupied and away from everything having to do with the Joker and his girlfriend and that chemical weapon he was producing for their master. The one that was going to ruin this city, all so Ra's could finally have his long-awaited heir, even though he had two perfectly good ones already. But of course, they were women, so what good were they really?
Laurel had never particularly liked the man that had forced them into his service. Whatever gratitude she still felt for her life being saved was directed at the person who had actually saved Shado and her: Nyssa. Ra's was just someone who had taken advantage of that to add two new soldiers to his little private army. And everything that had happened since their arrival to Gotham had done nothing to improve her opinion. Quite the opposite, in fact.
But in the end, her opinion didn't matter. Ra's was the undisputed master of the League. No one, not even Nyssa, dared to defy even the smallest of his orders. To do so meant death, or worse. So if he wanted to partner up with the Joker to ruin this city and force Batman to play his game, then they had no other option but play along and hope Batman managed to find some way to win anyway. It was a bitter thought, and it made Laurel want to take the nearest thing she could find and throw it at the wall.
They were just about done writing the last of their bibliographies when it happened. Laurel was scribbling down her last entry, making sure that she accounted for everything: the author, the title, the publisher, the year. Every single detail that those little citations demanded. It was ridiculous, but academic integrity was what gave colleges legitimacy, so they had to go along with it.
"And… done!" Laurel chirped, putting the final period before clicking her pen closed and setting it down next to the page. She would have to type this up later (or rather, have someone at the League type it up) to help sell the ruse once Barbara gave it another look over.
"I'm done too," Shado said, putting the finishing touches on her paper. She set her own pen aside and stretched her arms behind her. "That was… tedious."
"The joys of academic rigor," Barbara joked, and all three women laughed.
"Well, we better get going soon," Laurel said once the laughter subsided. "The dorm doesn't have a curfew but I'd rather not get stuck in Gotham traffic in the middle of a Friday night."
"Here here," Shado called out, and the two best friends exchanged grins.
"Alright, Myra. But first, let me get some take out boxes for you and Deilan. There's no way I'm going to be able to eat all this pizza on my own, so I might as well give it to you."
Internally, Laurel cringed. There was no way that pizza would make it pass the security checks at the estate. "Oh, Babs. You don't have to do that."
Barbara waved her off. "It's fine, guys. Like I said — I can't eat it all on my own. Might as well share it."
She moved to the kitchen, opening up one of the lower cabinets. But rather than reaching for some take out boxes, Barbara discreetly moved her hand to the top of the cabinet, where a button was waiting. She pressed it, and before Laurel and Shado knew it, they suddenly found their wrists and ankles restrained by metal bands that had suddenly popped out of their chairs.
"Barbara!" Laurel called out, shocked. Did she know?
Their "friend", who quite clearly no longer considered them her friends anymore, returned, her glasses glinting dangerously as she leveled a shotgun at them. Both Laurel and Shado froze at the sight. "Alright, 'Myra', 'Deilan'," the other woman started, her eyes narrowed. "It's time we start being honest with each other."
"What do you mean, Barbara?" Shado asked, trying to keep their cover.
"Stuff it. I know you two are League."
Shit. Laurel knew it was a lost cause at this point, but still. "'League'? Babs, I don't know what you mean—"
The click of the shotgun cut her off. "Enough with the bullshit. Start. Talking."
There really was no way out of it. The jig was up. Laurel and Shado exchanged looks, and sighed. "We were only sent here to observe you and make sure you weren't close to discovering the League's plan or our current location," Shado explained for both of them. "Perhaps subdue you if necessary, but no more than that. The master does not want you harmed in any way."
Barbara scowled. "And why is that? Does he feel pity for a cripple?"
Laurel shook her head. "No. He still feels there is a use in the world for a powerful information broker like you. He was hoping that once Batman sided with him, he could convince you to establish ties with the League so they could utilize your services. We would be able to locate our targets much more easily with your help."
"Wow," the other woman droned out sarcastically. "I'm glad to see he's become so progressive over the past few years."
She still had her shotgun aimed at them. Laurel swallowed. "What are you going to do with us?"
"Send you to the jail, of course," Barbara answered. "I've already signaled Batman. He'll be coming to pick you up soon. Once we know everything about Ra's' newest little plot, he'll take you to the GCPD, and they'll send you to Blackgate."
Where they would certainly be killed by whatever agents Ra's had in the prison, no doubt. The man couldn't afford any loose ends. Which meant they had to figure a way out of this now, before Batman came and took them away.
Or maybe not. Maybe they should let Batman capture them. Tell him everything and let the GCPD arrest them. Sure, they were screwed the moment they hit Blackgate, but with their information Batman and his team would assuredly be able to stop Ra's and the Joker. Gotham would be saved. They'd be dead at the end of it, but at least they wouldn't be a part of this anymore.
Laurel wasn't really thinking straight at this point. But did it really matter in the end? No matter how this turned out, they were going to be six feet under either way.
I'm sorry, everyone, she thought, her mind flashing to her family and Ollie and everyone she had left behind in Starling. To Shado and Robert and Yao Fei, and even Slade. She had made it this far, but it seemed this was the end of the line.
But then the windows of the house suddenly shattered. Everyone winced, bracing themselves for the spray of glass. A man in League armor swung into the room, kicking away Barbara's shotgun and knocking her wheelchair over, causing her to fall to the floor. He then moved to free Laurel and Shado, using his sword to rend the metal open. Laurel glanced up at him, meeting his eyes, and gasped in shock. "Al-Owal?"
"I was keeping an eye on you both," he said, his tone neutral. "Making sure that you did not stray from the League's path."
They were freed not long after. Both of them allowed themselves one final glance at Barbara before grabbing Al-Owal and allowing him to take them outside. Another car was waiting for them in the alley, this one a black SUV with tinted windows. The three assassins quickly filed inside, Al-Owal taking the driver's seat while Laurel and Shado scrambled into the back.
"Thank you, Al-Owal," Shado said in gratitude to their unexpected savior.
"Yeah. Thanks," Laurel added, crossing her arms. "So what now?"
Their mentor sighed. "Even though you did relatively well for your level of experience, you still failed the mission," he admitted. "I will need to report this to the Demon's Head. What happens after that is up to him."
The two best friends exchanged another round of grim looks at that. They might've been out of the frying pan, but it seemed they had only landed back into the fire instead.
All Gotham, this chapter. There was a lot, obviously, and I really wanted to illustrate the despair both Laurel and Shado were feeling for having to be a part of this. And of course, show Laurel's growing disillusionment with Ra's. That's going to play a part later down the line too.
As for why Laurel and Shado didn't just kill themselves, it's because the League doesn't have cyanide teeth. They use poison, something neither of them had on their person at the time. Plus, they were restrained. So there's that, at least.
The Lauriver Discord noted how odd it was Al-Owal had such a significant role in this year, and I had to admit I was surprised too. Normally, people have Nyssa do it but I wanted to experiment a little. Having Nyssa befriend Laurel and Shado like she befriended and later fell in love with Sara in canon felt too much like a rehash. Al-Owal, meanwhile, is something of a blank slate beyond being Malcolm's trainer, so I felt I could mold his personality as I pleased.
Next Chapter: Laurel and Shado are forced to report their failure to Ra's.