Cardinal Sins (Sequel to ARS) Jason Todd x Roy Harper x fem!reader

Meet Me in the Woods

song by lord huron

You stare down at your phone quizzically but, nonetheless, make your way over to the sliding glass doors. Upon opening them, you're shocked to see Jade on the balcony.

The slim woman is casually leaning against the railing as she takes in an aerial view of the city below. Her head tilts slightly as if to acknowledge your presence as you sidle up beside her, rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you do. The twinkling lights and sound of traffic coming from the sleepless city below further serve to wake you up.

"Kinda surprised to see you again," you say, breaking the silence. "I'm glad you kept my number."

"Are you?" she asks coyly.

Jade is clearly teasing you, much to your chagrin, but you're too tired and too confused to do much of anything other than blush. You can't help but feel entirely out of your depth with her. How exactly is one supposed to make small talk with an assassin? No, really, someone please send over notes for small talk with a merc 101 stat.

Without the help of any 101, you simply shrug, figuring it's the least awkward thing to do in this situation.

When she continues to stare at you out of the corner of her eye, you ask, "So, what's up? Why are you here?"

"I think I have some information that may be beneficial to your little gang," she says through the smallest of smirks. "Figured I'd be nice and let you in on it." With this, she moves her hand in front of her face, splaying out her fingers as she looks over her nails nonchalantly. "You planning to keep me outside in the doghouse?"

"No, of course not," you sputter as you quickly move to open the balcony door to welcome her inside clumsily. The entire situation is a strange juxtaposition to the last time she'd been in your apartment and, you know, tried to kill you for, like, the third time.

Once inside, however, she stays close to the door, silently looking around the apartment before allowing her eyes fall onto the open door of Lian's room. You watch as her dark eyes soften briefly before she suddenly focuses on you again.

You think she'll finally tell you why she's here, but instead she says, "You really treat her like your own." Her voice is barely above a whisper when she speaks.

"Always," you say earnestly.

She waits a moment before responding, "Good." The way she looks at you, you can feel the respect that radiates from it. You open your mouth to ask why she came, but she beats you to it. "My contract's been up for a while, I'm sure you know," she says, and you nod. "However, as of a few weeks ago, they reached out asking if I would reinstate it." You have so many questions, yet your mouth remains shut. "Last time I was here, I intended to follow through with the job."

Your eyes widen. "So, you're here to kill me?"

You really don't feel like having round 2, or, well, whatever fucking round it'd be with her at this point, while Lian's asleep in the next room. This doesn't, however, mean you're not willing to throw down if it comes down to it. You also know that while Jason and Roy are ready to sleep, both are keeping an ear out for you and are ready to intervene at a moment's notice.

Jade scoffs, "If that were the case, you'd already be dead." She eyes you up and down, noticing how your fists are now clenched, and laughs- honest to god laughs. "Calm down, rabbit. I told you I had information, now, didn't I? The people pushing the renewal are the same as last time."

"Who?" you demand.

"Well, Two Face's crew were the ones who set the bomb off in your apartment."

You take in the information quickly, your mind spiraling all the while.