Red War

Part Five

-Athena's POV-

I raced through Gotham. I still hadn't figured out where Ra's was exactly. But all I knew was that I was sick and tired of waiting around for something to happen. If Bruce and Dick were going to go out into the city, then who the hell was stopping me?

My line gripped into the concrete wall. All too quickly, it snapped and I tumbled straight down. I landed hard on a hood of a car. I felt a couple of ribs give and snap. Before I could even stand, a sword came down beside me, nearly slicing through my eye.

"Traitor!" The assassin called out, trying to attack again. I rolled to my side -- crushing two more ribs in the process -- and kicked the guy across the face. His mask covered all his features and identity. It was strange, but something about this guy felt familiar. I assumed he was one of the assassins I had trained with before. Just like all too many others, he had probably blindly followed Ra's and faithfully believed that I was a traitor.

He recoiled, grabbing my arm and swinging my body towards him. His other hand snaked around my throat. He tugged me up and off the ground. I dug my nails into his glove and thrashed back and forth. He squeezed even tighter.

Okay, now I was pissed. I drove the toe of my boot into his knee cap, causing him to bend forward. From there, I whacked him across the jaw with my elbow. His grip loosened. I collapsed to the ground. Before I gasped for much needed air, however, I grabbed his ankle out from underneath him. I climbed on top of his body, pulled out my grapple gun, and tied the line around his leg. Shooting the line straight up, his body jolted into the air before settling upside down in front of me.

Finally, I took a deep breath and sucked in some oxygen. I could feel the bruises forming on my neck. I stood up slowly. I was face to face with the assassin. His eyes were glaring and angry. I didn't flatter him with a smirk. I reached forward and tore off his mask.

Just as I expected. A familiar face grimaced at me. His name was David. He was one of the assassins who I sparred with when I first started. He was older. We both were. He had a beard, but I could still recognize his playful smile. David used to be so kind to me when I needed a friend back in those days. I remembered distinctly having a huge crush on him.

"David," I said, my voice deep and strong, "where is Ra's hiding?" I demanded.

David reached or me, but I quickly grabbed his wrist and snapped it. He flinched, but bit down on his tongue to stifle a shriek. Classic assassin. I asked again. "Where is he!?"

David grinned. "Oh, how you have grown," he said slowly, slurring his words a bit, "Little birdie sprouts some wings of her own and suddenly thinks she's an eagle, huh?"

"Tell me where Ra's is. Now."

"Why do you want to know anyway, huh? You gonna kill him? You know that's not how it works, traitor," David laughed, "unlike you, I actually understand the concept of loyalty."

I whacked him across the face, breaking some of his teeth. Blushed gushed down his chin. His face was starting to turn purple as the blood drained to his head. I could tell he was starting to get a little woozy. His words were coming out choppy and his eyes kept closing slowly.

I crept closer to his face. "David. I don't want to kill you. But I will. You know as well as I do that if it comes down to it, my training will take over."

David dropped his smile. "I won't beg for my life, traitor."

"Just tell me where Ra's is," I said, "and you won't have to."

"He'll find you." David said, his eyes closing.

I stared at him for a minute. We used to be so close. It was always Ra's. He always tore everything apart. As I looked at David, I knew the truth. Ra's corrupted everyone around him. I just felt sorry for the people like David; the really good people in this world who were convinced that they were doing the right thing. It was such a shame.