NO CELESTIAL / dick grayson

eleven, the student

CECILY LANGE WAS first put under her tutelage four years ago. She still remembered the first day they'd met. Cecily was just a small, shivering thing, plucked right from the streets of Germany. Remiel had enjoyed teaching her. The girl was quick to learn, easily one of the best in that group of recruits, which was why she was the one who rose through the ranks the quickest. And once she had she'd left Remiel's care, though their paths still crossed regularly.

A former street crook. Someone who lived for survival. It didn't necessarily surprise her that Cecily had sided with Deathstroke. She was one who'd do anything if it meant living.

But siding with Deathstroke was one thing. Coming out to fight her? Her master, her sensei?

Now that was unexpectable. If she'd been sent to kill anyone else, Remiel wouldn't hold it against her except professionally.

She had a truly twisted sense of morality, didn't she? No, it shouldn't be alright for Cecily to kill anyone at all. But she was another one of those girls who'd never had another choice. And if she hadn't sided with Deathstroke she'd currently be on the run with Talia and Seraphina, facing an uncertain future. Not that her future was certain by Deathstroke's side, of course.

"He'll get you eventually." Cecily's voice was weak, but still determined. The stab wound was deep. Nowhere enough to kill, but it would hurt. Remiel always knew where to put her blades through.

"You really think that?" Remiel got back up. "Damian al Ghul was able to put his fucking sword through Deathstroke's eyes. You think Deathstroke can get an upper hand on me?"

"You're far too arrogant, Mei."

"It's laoshi to you," Remiel replied coolly. "Or perhaps not. I don't have a student who fights as poorly as you. Three against one and you still lost."

"This isn't Guilin anymore," Cecily retorted with a growl.

"No. It's Gotham. And nothing has changed at all. He sent you to fetch me or kill me?"

"He said it didn't matter."

"He hides away in Nanda Parbat and sends Ra's al Ghul's former men and women to kill their masters." She took a glance at Dick and Jason, who were arguing over the best way to knock one of the men on the ground out. Jason eventually seemed to give up, slamming the barrel of his gun on the assassin's head. He dropped like a stone.

"Isn't that what you do with us as well? Dispatch us, use us like we're cannon fodder? We're all disposable to you. What's the difference, who we work for?"

Dick had walked over now. Somehow, his sunglasses were still intact. Jason swung his gun at the three assassins before her threateningly. "Stay down."

Dick raised a brow at Cecily, and then turned to Remiel. "Know her?"

"A former student. And a disappointment."

"Knock them all out."

That was easily done.

—

"WHO ON EARTH is Cecily Lange?" Damian asked, brows furrowed in confusion. "I've never heard of her in my life."

"You wouldn't have. She was a recruit in the Guilin base. Not someone you'd notice."

"And how do you want us to deal with her?" That was Bruce, arms crossed, watching her. Right now they were being kept in a base Bruce had a fair distance away, specifically used for housing people like members of the Assassins. People who couldn't exactly be arrested for the police, or were so far still useful to the investigation.