Sai; Book I | A Young Justice AU

Chapter 3: A Second Chance

September 8th, 2009; The Facility.

In the vehicle, the Parishites were mingling and celebrating their victory as they headed back to the facility.

"I gotta say, runt, I didn't think you'd be able to pull that off. You impressed me. Until you got owned by Black Canary." Ezra laughed.

"Aw, come on Ezra!" Morgan replied. "She got the job done and made this mission a success."

"I still think I would've been a better choice." Ezra smirked.

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Really!" Ezra and Morgan started arguing.

Amara stayed quiet, ignoring Ezra and Morgan's bickering. She stared at her sais which were stained with blood.

"He didn't deserve that." Amara thought to herself. "His family didn't deserve that." She felt a tear roll down her face. "What've I done?"

The squad of Parishites have finally returned to the base. As they entered, they were greeted by many other Parishites cheering for them.

"You did it!"

"Well done!"

"Drinks are ready!"

While the rest of the Parishites went to celebrate, Amara kept her head low and headed to her room before she felt someone hold her shoulder. She turned around to find Hunter with a large smile on his face.

"Good job, little angel. You've made me proud."

"Yeah.." Amara looked away to prevent Hunter seeing her tears that were slowly forming, but that plan backfired.

"Are you.. crying?" Hunter looked in shock.

"N-no!" Amara quickly wiped her eyes.

"Why on Earth are you crying?! Your first mission was a success!" He said with anger in his voice.

"It's just-" Amara paused for a bit. "..Maybe we didn't need to kill him--"

"I beg your pardon?! He deserved every single second of agony he was in!" He shouted.

"What makes you so sure about that?!" She retaliated.

Hunter looked Amara in the eye before slapping her.

"I was starting to think you weren't such a disappointment, but maybe I was wrong." He said before storming off.

Amara rubbed her cheek, started sobbing and ran to her room. She sat on the bed, hugging her knees.

"He's right. I'm a disappointment.." She thought before burying her face in her knees.

Two hours passed by as Amara was laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, her mind repeatedly running between the murder and what Hunter told her.

She finally got up and decided to get some rest. She put her pajamas on and put her mission suit and sais in the dresser. She got onto the bed and almost closed her eyes before she heard what seemed to be an explosion. 

She quickly got back up and put her ear to the door. She heard shouting and gunshots. Amara opened the door to investigate what was going on.

It was Black Canary again! Amara quickly shut the door again and ran to the corner of the room. She sat there and started hyperventilating.

"This is it. I'm dead. I am so dead." She covered her face with her hands.

Amara heard the door slowly creak open.

"..Hey."

Amara uncovered her face to see Black Canary and started screaming before Canary quickly ran to her and covered her mouth.

"It's okay, it's okay! I'm not here to hurt you." 

"N-no you're lying to me! You saw what I just pulled off!"

Dinah shushed her. "I just need an explanation." Canary replied. "Tell me why you did it."

"I wanted to make Hunter proud."

"He put you up to this?!"

"..Yeah." Amara quickly explained her entire story to Black Canary.

"Oh my god.. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, I'm a monster." Amara stared at the floor.

"You are not a monster, you are a young woman and you deserve a second chance. No one deserves to go through what you've gone through, especially at your age." Black Canary held Amara's shoulder. Amara looked up at her gave a little smile. "And I didn't quite catch your name."

"..Amara."

"Full name?"

"Amara Ruby Harrison."

"Well Amara, you can call me Dinah." She gave a comforting smile. "Now what do you say I get you out of this place?"

"What?" Amara's eyes widened.

"You heard me. I'm busting you out of here."

"I.. I don't know.. I couldn't."

"Amara, I swear on my life that I'll make sure you live the best life possible and never have to come back to this. Just come with me."

Dinah looked Amara in the eye, but not in the same way Hunter did. Dinah's eyes were filled with love and sincerity. Amara stared at her eyes for a good minute before replying.

"..Alright."

"Good." Dinah held Amara's hand and got up.

"Wait! I have to get my stuff!" Amara rushed to her dresser. She grabbed a duffle bag and shoved her sais in them, and decided to take her mission suit as well. Something glimmering on the corner of the dresser caught her eye. It was the sapphire necklace Hunter had given her on the night they met. Amara picked it up and stared at the shining gem with content, wrapping it around her neck and zipping up her bag.

 "Hurry up. I'm not sure how much longer Ollie can take all of them on by himself."

"Ollie?" Who's that?"

"You're about to find out."

Amara and Dinah rushed out to see the facility in chaos.

"Hm. Didn't think he'd be able to cause this much damage." Dinah said.

Suddenly, a man in green zip lined down to them. It was Green Arrow!

"Hey pretty bird. I see you got a new friend!" Green Arrow put his hand out. "You must be the girl everybody's talking about. I'm Green Arrow, nice to meet you."

Amara giggled and shook his hand. "I'm Amara."

Hunter stormed in. "Get away from her!" He pulled out a gun.

Amara gasped, but Canary executed her signature scream, throwing him into a wall.

"Holy shit." Amara's jaw dropped.

"Watch your profanity." Dinah gave her a side glance.

"Sorry to interrupt the party, but we gotta go. I've planted the explosive arrows all over the place."

"Great, now move it!" All three of them ran out of the facility.

Amara heard a large boom as she turned her head to see the entire facility on fire.

"Don't worry," Dinah said as they got into the Arrowcar, "you'll be fine."

Amara took one last look at the burning facility before driving off, leaving everything she knew behind her.