Bump In The Night (Jinx)

The speed and precision at which those men were dispatched was nothing to admire. It was the very least expected of one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s assassins. Intense and prolonged training were the combination that gave Safira such skill with a bow. With her bow fastened firmly to her back, Safira approached another of the corpses. This one had an arrow punctured through his chest, and through his windpipe. It was likely the his gasps of air that killed him quickly, swallowing a lot of sand from the storm. She grabbed the very end of the arrow shaft tightly, putting a lot of strength into the action. It didn’t rip out from his chest, but it certainly budged. Another strong pull, and the arrow was free.

As Safira stood up to her feet, she placed the arrow back in her quiver. Upon turned around, Jinx was there with several more arrows in hand that she held out for the assassin to take. No words were said as Safira took hold of them, placing them back into her quiver that was now looking filled up again. Jinx didn’t appear the most physically imposing, which must have meant she used magic to retrieve the arrows. It was a good thing too, because some were really wedged into the fallen bodies.

From there, it was back to following the mage who led them to the entrance of the tomb that the men were trying to either enter or protect earlier. Most likely intrude, though they appeared ill prepared if that was true. What then followed was Jinx doing her thing, to which Safira simply watched as Jinx ran her hands over the hieroglyphs before giving Safira something of a history lesson. It seemed the mage had an interest in empires and things of days gone by, which seemed handy with where they found themselves now. Safira knew only of the environment, having visited the desert wastelands on a number of occasions to impose the influence of Ra’s Al Ghul.

Safira would grimace beneath the balaclava as Jinx uttered another faint whisper. She spoke in a tongue that was uncomfortable and unpleasant. Like nails on a chalkboard, or daggers on rock. Safira had no clue how Jinx didn’t hear, seemingly enamoured with how it sounded – which was the least weird thing about the mage so far. Soon a small door materialized in front of them both that shimmered. You could see into it like a mirror, reflecting back at them an image which looked to be the inside of the tomb.

Before Safira could claim that she could ‘do better’ than the door that had materialized. Jinx stepped through without so much as a word. It was another one of those tests of faith. Jinx had shown reluctance before, and now it was time for Safira to make a choice; walk away, or trust Jinx and enter. ”Coming? the mage asked. Safira nodded back in reply, yet first lowered her balaclava and hood, as it appeared neither would be of use inside. Deep breath, the assassin stepped through the door into the tomb.

From there the assassin followed the mage, remaining close as without the light given off by the torch; one could find them self-lost in eternal darkness. As Jinx led the way, Safira’s focus was not on where they were headed, but their surroundings. It was littered with gold and trinkets from hundreds to thousands of years ago. It was a thief’s dream. And maybe, just maybe Safira would have nabbed something, had it not been for the warning of Jinx. Oddly, the warning brought a smirk to appear on the assassins face. ”I know that type”. Ra’s Al Ghul was very much the punishing type.

Then came another stern warning from the mage about what’s to come. A warning that was as simplistic an order as Safira had ever been told; do nothing. Safira really had little to no clue as to what Jinx was suggesting; who were they? What did they want? But before Safira had time to ask, Jinx had already began chanting. ”Hold hands, eyes shut”. Safira muttered to herself, taking a deep breath in before closing her eyes. It seemed a good idea to close her eyes, so whatever was happening, she wouldn’t know about it. It appeared a solid strategy, but one that would not last all that long.

For some reason, Safira had this urge to open her eyes. She did so, blinking frantically at first as she settled down. She was somewhere different, but somewhere that felt oddly familiar. But before the assassin could really scope the place, she heard the sound of Arabic being spoken. Turning her head, she saw Nyssa Al Ghul. A much younger Nyssa at that, with a bow in hand as she let fly an arrow that headed straight towards Safira. The assassin flinched, her hands and shoulders clenching up, closing her eyes as the arrow got real close.

Opening her eyes once more, Safira’s surroundings had all changed again. It was Gotham, she knew that much. Sat up on the floor, feeling bruised and beaten as several dark clothed individuals backed away, withdrawing their weapons. Safira looked up, exhausted, to see Ra’s Al Ghul stood in the distance, looking on. He said nothing, listening to Nyssa who mumbled some words at his side. A smile formed on the face of the assassin, just as Ra’s Al Ghul gave a nod of approval, before turning, his expression the same.

Safira’s surrounds then dissipated, and she found herself on Infinity Island. What followed were a series of memories from her time there, training. Such as; stick fighting with Nyssa, getting a stern talking to from Shiva, sparring with Cheshire and so forth. But the strongest of the memories was in the throne room where Ra’s Al Ghul sat. It was the moment where he bestowed upon her the name of المسافر (Safira – meaning; the traveller). She bowed her head, turned and walked away as the surroundings once again dissolved into nothingness.

Then came a more recent memory, as Safira appeared to be walking behind Jager into the Darkside Club. He turned around often, talking, though like most of the voices in these visions it was blurred to some extent. As she followed him through the door, the surroundings changed again to the arena within the club. Safira’s opponent then; Tina came charging at her, swinging with a wild forearm smash. Safira clenched up again, closing her eyes. Opening them again, and she was in the military base with the squad. Stood around were the likes of Match, Nightshade, Jinx, with Jager stood in the middle, listing off their individual tasks.

Then the imagery displayed changed repeatedly, no surroundings lasting more than a few seconds of time. Safira found herself stood alongside members of the Shadow Squad, embarking on missions, as well as with members of the League of Shadows, doing Ra’s Al Ghul’s bidding. But then things went south. Safira found herself once again in the throne room on Infinity Island. In front of her, there were two figures. One was unmistakably; Ra’s Al Ghul, the other she wasn’t too sure about. The two were engaged in combat, a sword fight, one on one.

Blade struck blade, and Ra’s was forced back with a hefty kick. He shielded himself from the next attack with his gauntlet, and then swung his blade toward the torso of his foe. His for leapt back, avoiding the sword and manoeuvred with a three hundred and sixty degree turn to the back of Ra’s, and then drove his blade through Ra’s. As the sword emerged through the chest of Ra’s, tears began trickling down the often stonewall face of the assassin as Ra’s fell to the floor, defeated. Closing her eyes, she opened them a moment later to where she saw Nyssa being cut down as well, and then Talia. Tears trickled a little faster, and she clenched her hands so very tightly, looking away. When she looked back, then the sword came for her, piercing straight through her own chest. She winched, closing her eyes again.

When she opened them, it felt like a rebirth as energy flowed through every fibre of her being as Safira emerged from what appeared to be the Lazarus Pit. Immediately the surrounds dissolved into a blinding white light, momentarily before Safira laid eyes on what appeared to be Cheshire behind bars, in a prison somewhere. Cheshire transitioned into a younger girl with similar facial features, wearing a red uniform that resembled a hero Safira had crossed swords with before; Red Arrow. The girl disappeared, and Safira found herself stood surrounded by over a dozen armed guards. Watching, looking above as an attack chopper overhead crashed into the river behind. Safira turned to look back towards the guards, and they were gone. They were replaced by Nightshade, with the two stood in an abandoned building that burned intensely. Safira could feel the heat, sweat dripping down her forehead chasing the tears of before. It transitioned into a scene where Safira felt that she was on trial. Stood with what appeared like heroes, spread around. She didn’t recognize any really, but there were hints as to who they were, such as; one wearing a dark cowl, similar to Batman, another a green skinned woman.

The surroundings changed, and as Safira looked around those heroes were fighting against troops that looked like the ones who had their guns aimed at her before. But the heroes weren’t attacking her, seemingly fighting alongside her. A tall, dark skinned hero materialized water like whips, lashing at several of the troops. The green skinned woman’s eyes glowed a bright green as troops were sent flying backward. Another woman blasted water out from her hands, knocking away several more. Then a shadow loomed large over her, and Safira looked back over her shoulder. The cowl clad man descended, cape outstretched as he threw two throwing weapons.

Then everything went dark. If but for a moment, before Safira’s surroundings began to reappear. She was somewhere familiar, home. In front of her were hundreds of men and women, cloaked, dressed like League of Shadows members, knelt in front of her. Safira was sat in front of them all, higher up. A look to the right slightly, and on her hand Safira saw the Demon ring that Ra’s Al Ghul wears. One of the hooded men then stood up, and walked up the steps. He stopped and knelt in front of her, holding out a blade – the demon blade. He uttered a few words in Arabic as he presented the sword. It roughly translated to him telling her to ascend to the mantle of Ra’s Al Ghul.

She just sat there, staring at the blade for a little while. With the hooded figure requesting for Safira to reach out and take the blade. Her hands clenched together, and Safira took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. When she opened them, it was over. No more visions, nothing. It was something of an overwhelming experience, and arriving in the real world didn’t fully set in just yet - at least not to the point that Safira noted the pain caused by Jinx’s grip of her hand. ”You okay?”. Safira asked, looking toward Jinx as she still held onto her hand. ”You can let go now”. She added. Pain was starting to creep up just a bit, though of course Safira had been trained to have a much greater threshold for pain than most, which helped greatly. But she could still feel its sting somewhat.