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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 11:14:14 GMT
23:47
December 15th 2017
Star City
Enough was enough. There had been far too many unnecessary deaths occurring within the ranks of the Shadows, and there was only one clone to blame for the problem. The time had come for this issue to be resolved, and the problem terminated. It was a task that Ra’s had decided to bestow upon a certain assassin in his arsenal; Safira. Who for all intents and purposes had put herself forth for the role, and how could one argue when her selection proposes a quicker end to Harper’s interference.
It was a cold, and windy night in Star City. Above its towering buildings loomed dark clouds, dark clouds which had opened up and brought with them a heavy downpour of rain. It was dark out, and sticking out like a sore thumb in the nights sky was the formation of a brightly lit pink colored portal above one of the tallest buildings. Moments after forming, it glowed with intense color for a mere moment as out from it dropped the shadowy figure of Safira – here in Star City to complete her task. It was no mistake, her arrival in Star City. The Shadows had been following the exploits of Mr. Red Arrow for some time now, and it appeared as though he had recently shown up in Star City. Of course, there was the chance that he may of moved on by now. Still, it was worth the chance.
Safira dropped down onto the rain soaked rooftop below. She had landed down on one knee with minimal fuss, and as she stood up tall her weapon of choice for Red Arrow’s demise became apparent. In one hand she held with her a bow, no doubt seeking to best Arrow at his own game in the process of dispatching him. The League Assassin would proceed to step towards the very edge of the rooftop, peering down at the streets and rooftops below. It was a great vantage point, one of the better one’s available. Hopefully it would be only a matter of time before he pops up. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 8:40:26 GMT
Since his talk with Jade, Red had made some tough choices about what he was going to do now. The past few months had been spent trying to save his family when his wife had been doing just that, and all that he had done was make it worse. What made it even more despairing was the fact that he had alienated most of his friends for a personal vendetta, and he needed to find some way of rectifying that before it was too late. To start with, he had to go to those that were closest to him, which meant Ollie and Dinah who were the closest thing that he had to parents.
Hence his return to Star City where everything had started, had ended and restarted, which sort of made it like his Phoenix roost or something. Of course, he was in civilian attire as this was something that the clone ‘Roy’ had to do, which meant that the costume had to be put away until he came to terms with his pseudo family. It wasn’t going to be easy, but if there was one thing that he had become good at it was apologizing for his own failings. He did wish that it hadn’t happened so often, but those were the breaks for being someone as weird as he was. Clone. Superhero. Father. Major Bonehead.
This brought on a stream of memories entered his mind that ranged from training with Green Arrow to when he had left the life behind him for his family, and then his most recent exploits against the Shadows came to mind. ”Definitely got to expect some payback there,” he muttered as he turned the corner. If they wanted a fight, then Red was going to have to figure out a way to make it on his terms, which meant that he needed some neutral ground and not the city of his former mentor. The archer was just going to have to hope that whoever came after him would wait for him to leave Star City before commencing their attack.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2015 11:17:50 GMT
Safira didn’t remain at her post. Whilst is was a good vantage point in that it allowed her to watch over a much greater area. You couldn’t see the people roaming the streets in any detail, and it was of course important that she finds the actual target – there was no wiggle room for mistakes. Therefore Safira teleported from rooftop to rooftop around Star City, looking down at the streets close by in search of a man fitting the description she had. Before long, she found her guy.
Well, she thought she had at least. There was the odd chance that rather than Red Arrow, she had Arsenal in her sights. Safira remained on the rooftops, following her target as he walked along the street, seemingly unaware as to her presence. This was all about timing and the approach. No doubt, Ra’s would have someone nearby watching to make sure that what he asked is done. He had his reasons for this, aware of the connection between Cheshire and Safira. It had to look convincing, and that meant engaging the target in combat. The tricky part would be getting Red away somewhere remote to talk. It wasn’t as simple as popping open a portal and requesting he step through – would that be an option anyway? This was hard.
It appeared there was no-one else down the road that he had turned down, and thus it was time for Safira to move in for the kill. She disappeared off the roof in a small poof of smoke to reappear down on the street behind Red; several metres away. Safira held her bow out, the bowstring drawn back as she took aim at Red. However, Safira had no arrow. Instead the projectile she was going to use formed itself; a pink colored spike of spatial energy. “Harper”. She called out for him to turn around. The moment he did she would fire off her spike. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2015 17:58:24 GMT
Seems like start to a fight scene in a Japanese flick, he thought to himself as he walked down the deserted street. If this were like one of those movies, then a guy would have walked out in front of him to cut off his path while his buddies circled around him, but this wasn’t a movie. It was real life where the only thing that popped out around the corner was someone trying to make it home, so there was no need for him to tense up. Sadly, he was tensed up from his years of training and recent events, so his eyes kept scanning the area around him. So far, nothing looked out of the ordinary, but that was when he heard some call out his last name.
It caused him to stop as he pondered if the person was talking to him, but then again there wasn’t anyone else on the street. Turning quickly, all that he saw was the bow in the person’s hand before he dove sideways to avoid an arrow to the chest. ”Need a weapon,” he muttered as he came out of his roll. Thinking quickly, the nearest weapons cache from the old days was about two blocks away, which meant that this was going to be a very deadly marathon.
”Well, I hope that this person is a horrible shot.” Red knew that it wasn’t likely given that anyone who was coming after him had to be a professional, so there was no time to waste. Bolting as fast as he could, the crimson archer made for the cache in a rather erratic running pattern that consisted of sliding across parked cars and acting like the world was his parkour course. If he was lucky, then such movements would buy him a few moments before the assassin anticipated his pattern and started firing more projectiles his way. As he did this, there was only one thing that crossed his mind.
”Why did I leave my communicator at home?”
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 10:08:54 GMT
”Why must they always run…?”. Safira muttered to herself beneath her breath. It seemed to be the general rule when someone encountered a member of the League of Shadows. Whether it be a nobody, someone of power and now… apparently heroes too, they all took their chances with running. It would perhaps be more fun should Safira give chase the proper way, the way people expected; being hot on their tail, covering the same ground and what not. But that would be a waste of energy, and talent.
As Harper took off down the street, he would perhaps wonder why Safira was not giving immediate chase. It was for good reason, as her hesitation was brought about by confirmation of her suspicions. It was difficult to see, but Safira could spot a member of the League watching on from afar; a scout, looking to report back to Ra’s Al Ghul with what occurs. It wasn’t a surprise at all, many, including Ra’s were aware of the bond that Jade and she had. A bond that Harper could be thankful for later on, as after Ra’s Al Ghul did Jade come as the next person in the pecking order of people who Safira didn’t want to tick off. This needed to appear convincing, and that would be hard. How are you meant to pull your punches against someone you have every reason in the world to want dead? The assassin lifestyle never was simple.
Safira disappeared in a poof of pink smoke, only to reappear in positions close to where Harper appeared to be running. In each spot, Safira would draw back her bow and fire off at least one arrow, if not more, each arrow always seemed to strike close to Harper, but none were on target at all – Safira hadn’t had this bad an aim since the first day she picked up a bow. Ideally, close combat was the desired situation for Safira. It would be much easier to force Harper through a portal that way, and away from prying eyes looking to report back to the Demon. |
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2015 16:56:48 GMT
The plan to run seemed to be working well, and while Roy wasn’t one to look gift horses in the mouth this was one of those times that even he had to ponder what was going on. Either Ra’s Al Ghul was trying to let him get away by sending a sub-par archer, or he was being herded like a lamb to the slaughter. Either way, it wouldn’t matter if he could get to that weapons cache before his pursuer got lucky with one of the shots, which was only a matter of time at this point. No one had this bad of a streak unless they were in Vegas or married into certain famous families.
”Just keep running, Harper. It won’t be long now before the pursuer becomes the pursued,” he muttered as he rounded a corner. Then a thought occurred to him that brought up a major concern for him, and that was the retinal scanner that was used to get into the cache in the first place. It was definitely going to pose a problem if it took too long to scan his eye, which meant that he was going to have to buy himself a moment or two. ”Guess I need to speed up though.”
Pushing himself to his limit, Roy turned down the corner that led to the weapons cache and quickly placed his eye in front of the scanner. Retinal Scan Commencing. His eyes was washed in a blue light that he wished would hurry up, but yelling at machines never worked to make them go faster. If anything, the devious creations actually stopped functioning altogether. Retinal Pattern recognized. Welcome, Speedy. He made a note to have that changed later since no one was currently holding that particular title anymore.
Turning around to face the alley, he surveyed the area for his enemy while waiting for the doorway to open. ”Where are you hiding,” he asked as he heard the familiar sound of sliding metal. The tables were about to turn in his mind.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 9:48:51 GMT
This couldn’t be kept up for much longer. With each arrow that was fired, time was ticking down. Safira was going to run out of arrows soon, and that wasn’t good. Missing one? No biggie. Missing two? Unfortunate, try again. But missing over ten? That was unacceptable, perhaps a killable offence in the Demon’s eyes. Safira was down to about six arrows now, and not a single one had hit. They came close, but none were on target. Fortunately it appeared as though the League scout was focusing his attention on her, and not Harper.
As Safira spotted Harper turn around a corner, she slowed down a little. It was for the benefit of both; so Harper could catch his breath and so that she could form a plan. Moments later, she disappeared in a flume of smoke. It would scramble the focus of the scout, as he would need to scower the place to find her again. Safira reappeared only a few yards before Harper and held up her bow, aiming towards the hero. She had an arrow drawn back, and let go to fire it towards Harper. The arrow flew through the air towards the hero, but disappeared through a small pink colored portal just before it would hit Harper. And with the disappearance of the arrow, the disappearance of the assassin followed after, once more in a poof of smoke.
It was a hint, one that Harper would hopefully catch. Safira was watching, waiting, lurking in the shadows; hoping that when she was to make herself known again, that Harper might just feel inclined to pull his punches as well. She still needed to lead him away of course, but that would be much easier without any real fight to contend with at the same time. |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 11:56:40 GMT
An answer to his question was given when his pursuer appeared in front of him in a cloud of smoke, and she had him in her sights. Roy supposed that this was what the people that he chased felt like when he appeared around a corner with an arrow aimed at someone, but as the arrow came at him the doors to the cache which caused him to fall backwards as he had been pressing against them. As he fell, Roy saw the arrow vanished before it even got to him, which made him wonder what the heck was going on.
The doors slid shut a moment after the assassin disappeared in the same smoke as before, and with what appeared to be a reprieve in the incoming projectiles Roy set about arming himself with what he could find. Picking a bow off the wall, he tested the string on it before grabbing a quiver of arrows. ”Not as good as my new one, but it’ll do for now.” If the situation was truly dire, he would have pulled an ‘Arsenal’ and grabbed everything that he could, but this was just a battle of archers to him. He was just going to have to outshoot them in order to survive.
Pushing a button, the doors opened, and Roy rolled out of the cache into a shooting pose. He scanned the area for whoever was after him, but he couldn’t see anything. ”Man, this is feeling a lot like Déjà vu, and that isn’t a good thing.” Now that he thought about it, it probably would have been a good idea to use a spare radio to contact someone, but it was a little late for that idea now. Then again, this was his problem, so it was probably best if he handled it on his own. ”At least for now,” he muttered.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 16:50:39 GMT
When Roy disappeared into his armory for a few moments, Safira averted her attention elsewhere, to the League of Shadows scout overseeing the proceedings. It wasn’t her intention to ambush him, or engage him in anyway. No, Safira merely made sure as to his whereabouts. She herself wouldn’t remove him from the situation, she couldn’t risk it. But… Harper can.
When the hero emerged from his armory, Safia watched on as he rolled out ready to fight. It would be much easier to put on a convincing performance with the sides somewhat even. In moments, Safira reappeared behind where Roy stood following the same cloud of smoke as before. ”Factory roof, eleven o’clock – make it look convincing”. She whispered with a smirk across her face before disappearing in a cloud of smoke again before Roy could turn to fire.
Those were instructions that would lead Roy to the League of Shadows scout. He may need to squint a little, but they were detailed enough. Safira appeared once again a dozen yards in front of Roy with her bow drawn, ready to fire. ”Roy Harper – for crimes against Ra’s Al Ghul; you shall die a thousand deaths”. The Assassin said before letting the string of her bow go, sending an arrow speeding through the air towards the hero. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2015 17:04:49 GMT
A target. All that he needed was a target to shoot at, but there wasn’t one close by which wasn’t a good sign. ”Come on. Show yourself,” he muttered. Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy for him, or was it? At that moment, smoke emanated from behind him before a woman’s voice told him a location and to make it look convincing. The first thing he did was check over his shoulder, but whoever had been there was already gone.
Figuring it was just a helpful tip from a friend or something, Roy scanned the area that was mentioned and saw what he believed to be someone looking down on him, and since there wasn’t anyone else up there it was to be assumed that was the target he was supposed to take out. ”Now the question is, should I?” Whoever it was hadn’t tried to help him when he was getting shot at, so they obviously weren’t a friend to him. On the flip side, he or she hadn’t attacked , so there wasn’t really an enemy there.
”Better safe than sorry.” When the actual assassin appeared and declared his endless deaths, Roy recognized the voice as the one that had pointed out the observer to him, and now she was trying to kill him again. Rolling out of the way, he came out of it and fired an explosive arrow at the target above him, but it looked as though his fingers had slipped. Loading a normal arrow, he fired a second shot slightly to the right of the other archer. ”Hope I don’t regret this.”
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2015 11:33:01 GMT
The hero did as was expected and rolled out of the way of the shot. Safira quickly found a rebuttal, as an arrow from the red archer came zipping through the air towards her. In pure stylized fashion, Safira side flipped a full three hundred and sixty degrees rotation, landing firmly back on her feet. But as she did land, avoiding the arrow, her attention was drawn from the red archer to the sound of an explosion.
She looked right away up towards the factory roof where she had suggested the red archer take aim. An explosive arrow had impacted the roof, and while it didn’t directly hurt the League of Shadows sentry, it did all it needed to. The sentry lost his balance as the roof rocked from the arrow’s impact, he fell and slid down off the side of the roof to the floor below. It was unclear without going over there to see whether he survived the fall, or worse. But there was no time to check, this was the opening that had been needed.
Lowering her bow in her left hand, Safira’s right forearm became engulfed in a whirling pink smoke, the very essence of her portals. She threw the pink smoke out to one side, and it began to manifest itself into a brightly colored portal. Needless to say, the League assassin ran straight into it. But this time, the portal didn’t disappear. It remained there. The hero was supposed to give follow, and well… Safira figured the intrigue of a League assassin not attacking him, but somewhat helping him would be enough to lure the hero through. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2015 8:45:42 GMT
When his enemy dodged his arrow, Roy had to say that it might have been a bit excessive since it wasn’t a kill shot, but he supposed she had to make it look good in case of the small chance that the first arrow didn’t take out the audience. Naturally, he was still uncertain as to whether or not his move was a good one. He was putting all his trust into the notion that she wasn’t going to kill him the moment that his guard was down, but second guessing himself might just get him terminated anyway.
Studying the girl, he would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t the least bit surprised by the fact that the opposing weapon was lowered, but it was kind of dismissed by the fact that she created a smokey portal from nothing. ”Well, that is a neat trick that I haven’ seen before,” he muttered as he realized just how much exercise she really got when chasing him. It made him hate his lack of super powers even more, but there was probably a catch to having the ability to create portals to places. He had to just keep an eye out for it.
Roy quickly realized that he was going to have to take a trip through the portal if he was going to learn anything about what was going on. ”Yeah, there is no way that this could turn out bad.” Running through the portal, the need for a radio came back to his mind.
”Start talking, or arrows are going to start flying,” he commented as he made it through the other side.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2015 9:44:31 GMT
Safira emerged from the other side of the portal with a flash of bright pink light. The assassin stepped out from it and onto a rooftop, high above the ground as the building she was upon seemed to dwarf any other structures around. This was Hong Kong, a World apart from where she found herself previously. It was mid-day, and not a very pleasant one at that. Grey clouds filled the sky above, and from them ushered a sweeping downpour of rain that caught just about every inch of the city in rain.
As Safira stepped towards the very edge of the rooftop, she folded her bow up tightly and strapped it to her back alongside the quiver that had been diminished of arrows. Fighting was over now, it was time to talk… so long as the hero followed suit. The assassin peered over the edge, to glance at the people below who were tiny dots in the distance. All of them rushed about to escape the rain, some sporting umbrellas, newspapers and a few just trying their luck. It served only as a distraction, as another pink flash came from the portal; indicating the arrival of the crimson archer.
”Not even a thank you?”. Safira inquired as she turned around to face the hero. She wasn’t at all too pleased with his aggressive approach. It was most unhero like. ”Fine, we’ll talk”. She added. No sense in dragging this out longer than it needed to be. ”First, put the bow down Little Red Robin Hood… if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already”. It was a request that was more of a test. To see whether he had any trust at all in her. Plus, Safira had never been a fan of being in another person’s crosshairs.
”You need to keep out of League affairs”. Safira said as she stepped closer towards the hero, stopping a mere meter or so away from him. ”You’re only making things more difficult, you need to stop”. Or I’ll make you stop. ”Jade’s a good assassin, if there are any problems; she knows that I’ve got her back, and… no offence. But me intervening is less likely to get you, Jade or Lian killed”. Safira said with a faint smirk beneath her balaclava. She threw Lian’s name in there for a little added effect. Catch him off guard about just how much she knows, as well as inform him that the Demon wouldn’t hesitate to make Lian a target if need be. ”Jade has a debt to pay, so let her pay it”. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 17:12:07 GMT
Glancing around at his surroundings, Roy recognized where he was, and a feeling of worry entered his mind as he realized just how far they had come. If he had known that the portal was going to take him so far from home, then he would have just let it close and taken off in another direction, but he supposed that whoever this person was that it wouldn’t have mattered. She seemed determined to have a conversation with him of some kind, so they might as well get it over with so they could return to the art of trying to shoot one another with pointy and sometimes exploding objects.
”No offense, but seeing as how you started this fight and can teleport I’m not going to be putting anything down unless it is you or one of your assassin buddies. Understand?” As he spoke, Roy wondered what his chances were of him being able to get down from the building that they were on and find a way to contact any member of the Team or the Justice League before she caught up with him, but then he heard why they were having this meeting and he sort of smirked because of it. It was time to let Jade’s ‘friend’ in on something that only a true friend would have known about.
Releasing the tension in his bow, Roy place the arrow back into his quiver but kept the bow in hand, which was sort of a compromise to her earlier request. ”I guess she hasn’t sent you the memo yet. She and I already had this talk, and I don’t feel like repeating it.” Mainly, he was still recovering from blowing up a roof while the two of them were still on it, and that had been while they were pretending to fight with one another. He didn’t want to imagine the one where actually fighting was taking place, but it would definitely end with one of them being scarred or dead.
”But I will ask you one thing. Even with you watching her back, do you honestly think that Ra’s Al Ghul is going to tell her when her debt is paid, or do you think that he is going to keep Jade within his grasp until she ends up getting killed?” From what he knew of Ra’s, giving up wasn’t in the man’s nature, and Jade was one of the best assassins in the world which made her extremely valuable to someone who was head of a League of them. His question was mainly to see if the portal girl truly understood who she was working for.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2015 11:36:04 GMT
Memo or not, it seemed as though Safira wasn’t the only one not to receive it. Because if the hero had, then he would have stopped interfering some time ago, and there would be no need for this encounter. Yet here they were, stood atop a building rooftop that ascended high above the others in Hong Kong. Safira took note of Harper’s caution. But it was misplaced. They were alone, there was no-one lurking in the shadows.
Then the question regarding the intentions of Ra’s Al Ghul came. It was a difficult question to answer, as there was no real insight to how Ra’s thinks. Even after spending so many years at the Demon’s side, serving his agenda. Safira couldn’t answer with anything but a guess. But she did know some things, some facts. ”Jade has agreed terms with Ra’s Al Ghul already, and without your intrusions, she would have met those terms already”. Safira didn’t get it, she probably never would. What did Jade see in these hero types? They weren’t worth the trouble. ”Soon she will, and Jade will be free to do whatever it is that she pleases”. Safira confirmed with a nod of the head. ”Ra’s Al Ghul holds no interest in Jade, but he does in Cheshire”.
Safira turned away at that moment, as she stepped away to the roofs edge again before picking up where she left off. ”Jade’s an assassin, and whether you like it or not, that’s who Jade is. She’s Cheshire, and the Shadows are a big part of that”. She continued. ”That’s why Ra’s Al Ghul doesn’t need to use this debt to keep hold of Jade”. Safira grinned. There were plenty of other ways to keep a hold of Jade, a debt was a futile one. ”Because Cheshire will come home, eventually”. Safira said in a determined tone. The assassin turned to glance back at the crimson archer, and beneath her balaclava was a wide smirk. ”And that terrifies you”. |
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