Not As It Seems

noted

Jade knew she should make her way back to the League, get started on her mission for Batman, but she had to stop in and see Will and Lian first. So she made her way to their little apartment, ducking in through the window. Immediately, the lights turned around.

Jade smirked, turning to see Will standing there with their sleeping daughter in his arms. He quirked a brow at her and said nothing, walking away to put Lian to bed before returning with two glasses and a bottle of Scotch. Jade sat on the battered couch, accepting one of the glasses from her husband.

"So, how did the mission go?" Will asked, swirling the Scotch in his glass.

Jade contemplated her answer. "I was thrown out of a helicopter." Will turned to her with an incredulous look. She nodded, taking a sip. "Red, my partner, shoved me out. He betrayed me."

"Yikes."

"S'okay. I agreed to work with Batman to spy on the League to get back at him." Jade shrugged.

"You, Cheshire, agreed to work with Batman. Why?"

"'Cause Red is a good kid, just a little...misguided. I want to help him."

"And working with Batman will help him?" Jade shrugged again. Will sighed. "Okay, as long as you know what you are doing."

"I do." Jade finished her drink, standing up and placing the glass on the floor. She leaned down and kissed Will. "I have to be going now, I don't know when I will be back next. Give Lian my love."

"Will do. Be careful, Jade."

"Always." Jade winked, climbing back out the window. She made her way to the meeting point with her ride back to League Headquarters, silently getting into the waiting helicopter.

As the helicopter flew towards the remote island, Jade couldn't help but let her mind wander to her first meeting with Jason...

It was after one of the nights she slept over her mother's house after a mission, a rare occasion but they did occur. Jade was making her way to the living from her bedroom after having taken a shower, her still wet hair wrapped up in a towel. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw not just her mother and Artemis in the living room, but a strange black haired, blue eyed boy sitting on the couch.

"Uh, who is this?" Jade was never one to beat around the bush.

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing." The boy smirked. Jade narrowed her eyes at the young teen. He raised one eyebrow in response, his smirk growing.

Artemis sighed in annoyance, rolling her eyes at the antics of the two locked in a stare down. "Jade, this is Jason. Jason, this is my older sister, Jade." They continued to stare at each other, causing Artemis to huff. "Now that introductions are out of the way, can we please stop silently challenging each other to a death match?"

"She started it."

"Oh, real mature, Jason."

Jade couldn't help the slightly amused chuckle that escaped her. Anyone that could stand the infamous Crock Family glare was alright by her. She walked further into the room, sitting in the arm chair adjacent to the couch. "So, Jason, what brings you around this part of town?"

"Wanted to see what the old stomping grounds looked like since I left them." Artemis snorted. "What? I live a life of posh privilege now, I can now see what this side of Gotham is really like. A real sh-"

"Language, Jason."

Jade furrowed her brow. This Jason kid seemed familiar.

"What? I'm just telling it like it is, Artemis." Jason grinned.

Artemis huffed again and grumbled under her breath before turning to her mother. "Anyways, thanks for letting Jason stop by. We should get going though. Important business and all."

That's when it clicked with Jade, why Jason seemed familiar. He was the new Robin.

She smirked, waving to her sister and Jason as they left the apartment, already liking this Robin a lot more than the first.

Jade shook herself out of her memory, the helicopter coming up on the League Headquarters. She braced herself for her encounter with Re-Jason. How was she supposed to act after her pushed her out of a helicopter? She knows it was so he could bring Control to Batman without her knowing but that backfired, so what does she do?

She didn't have much time to prepare as she got off the helicopter and was greeted by a masked Jason. Jade wished he didn't wear that mask, it would be so much easier to read him.

She quickly remembered that he pushed her out of a freaking helicopter so she snarled at him, kicking his feet out from under him and drawing her sai. She quickly straddled him, holding her sai under his chin. "Throw me out of another helicopter and we are going to have a problem."

Jason let out a mechanical sounding chuckle, the voice scrambler in his mask disguising his voice as he responded. "Noted. Deathstroke wants to see you."

Jade nodded, getting off Jason and helping him to his feet. She followed him further through the complex, towards Deathstroke's quarters. They stopped outside, Jason knocking for the both of them. "Come in." They entered, seeing Deathstroke practicing his knife throwing. He turned and threw a blade at Jade, the female assassin not flinching as the blade landed in the wall next to her head. "Ah, Cheshire. I've been expecting you."

Jason stood off to the side, ramrod straight and unmoving. Jade averted her eyes, looking back to Deathstroke. "Yeah, sorry, got a little held up with the Junior Justice League. Also didn't help that Red here decided to push me out of the helicopter."

"We have already discussed that, extensively." Jade repressed the shudder that threatened to go through her body. "As for your encounter with the young heroes, I want you to tell me everything. And I do mean everything."

"There's not much to tell. They caught me in their weird spaceship, tied me up and knocked me out, brought me back to their lair. Artemis whined at me for trying to kill her friends, I explained how she was wrong, I escaped, visited my daughter while I waited for my ride, and came back here."

Deathstroke stared at her, long and hard, before nodding. "You may go." Jade nodded, walking towards the door. "Oh, but one more thing. If I find out you lied to me about anything you said or withheld any information...well, let's just say your daughter is as good as dead."

"Good thing I didn't lie or withhold any information, then." Jade walked out, cursing Batman with every step she took.

Once she freed Jason and took down Deathstroke, she was going to kill him for endangering her daughter.