++++++ Hello, hello, hello! Cause I'm feeling generous in my writing, here is chapter one of Bàoyìng, part two of my Arrow fan fiction, Kōngxū. Please enjoy my peeps! ++++++

One

Peter came out of the lounge room, gun drawn. He almost paled when he saw me. "Listen, this is my home, my family-don't do this here."

I pointed at my mother. "Where's the machine?"

She cocked her head to the side. "What machine?"

I held my hands up and slowly took my domino mask off. "The machine you and Malcolm are using to destroy the Glades."

Peter lowered his gun. "River? You're Shade?"

I paused. "Yup," I answered, popping the 'p'.

Peter looked at me than looked to my mother. "What machine?"

My mother smirked. "River, River, River. You've been a naughty, naughty girl."

"You're working with Malcom," I accused her. "You're murdering innocent people!"

She laughed. "That's rich coming from you. Vigilante Shade, going after the one percenters, trying to eliminate the thing that destroys this city. Try focusing on the filth in the Glades instead. They poison this city. You should be on our side, River! Your father started this. He had second guesses, so did Robert."

I stared at her. "Peter," I spoke, "take the girls and Frankie and get the hell out of here. I'll deal with her."

"River-" he objected. "No! She's your mother! No one is going anywhere until I'm told what the hell is going-"

He was cut off when a knife was thrust through his chest.

I gasped when his body dropped to the ground, my mother wearing an awful smirk on her face. "What did you do?"

She threw the knife aside and cracked her neck. "You know from the moment you returned I knew something was off. You were more focused-I knew this would be a problem. I wanted to know what you knew-but you and Queen were so clever-well Malcolm is better trained than Queen-he's probably dead already."

She launched herself at me, catching me off guard. Behind her, Angela and Molly stood in the doorway, tears streaming down their faces. They'd seen our mum stab Peter. "Take Frankie and go!" I yelled, hitting the ground.

Mum grabbed my head and slammed it against the wooden floor. "Stay," she hissed. "And you won't be punished."

"Run!" I screamed. I elbowed her in the throat and pushed her off me. "Girls! Go!" I yelled. I struggled up, there was not a lot of room in the hallway between the stars and the wall.

She kicked me in the back of the knee and I fell like a sack of bricks. She bent down and grabbed a chunk of my hair. "You're a bad girl, River. Running around the city killing all my friends. Malcolm will probably want you alive but I'm disinclined to agree with him. You cost us."

I elbowed her in the face, breaking her nose. She stumbled back and it gave me enough time to get up. I ran towards the girls. "Go! Go!" I yelled. "Out the back and up the window! Go get Frankie!"

"You little bitch!" she screamed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back, I blocked her arm when she went to strike me and I punched her in the throat.

Sweeping my leg out, I kicked her legs out from underneath me and she hit the ground with a resounding bang. "Down, girl," I growled, supporting a bleeding lip.

She pulled me down and jumped up, her face twisted in an ugly scowl. "I'm better than you!" my mother hissed. "I will always be better." She stood over me and slammed her foot down, cracking my knee.

I screamed in pain.

"And I'm the better shot," Peter coughed from the floor. The two of us looked back and Peter fired, the bullet hitting my mother right in between the eyes.

"Mummy!" Molly screamed.

"NO!" I yelled, grabbing Molly as she ran towards mum. I groaned in pain, my knee was killing me. I'm sure there was some kind of damage to my knee.

"Get out of here!" Peter ordered me.

"No!" I snapped.

Peter coughed, blood dripping from his mouth. "I'm calling this in. Get out of here now! We'll talk later."

I slid over to the wall, my hands sliding through the blood pooling around mum's head. I slipped and fell face first into the ruby red liquid.

Angela helped me sit up. "Please go, River. You'll get into trouble."

I stared at her. "Angie…I'm gonna stay…cops can do whatever they want with me."

"You're my hero," she whispered. She rushed over to Peter with something to stop the bleeding. "Come home soon, okay?"

I pulled myself up on the wall and limped out towards the door. When I came outside I could hear screaming and sirens in the distance. I curled my hands.

I woke up in a cold sweat.

Always a cold sweat.

For a moment there I thought that I was blind and couldn't see a damn thing only to realise that my face was covered in paper. Lots of paper. I groaned and rolled over only to hit the ground with a thud.

Someone laughed above me.

I pulled the paper off my face and looked up, meeting piercing blue eyes framed by a stubborn face with a permanent five o'clock shadow. "Damn it, Greyson. Fuck you!"

Dick Greyson, the annoying, childish former boy-wonder Robin turned Nightwing looked down at me with a lopsided grin. "If you wish, Quinn," he chuckled, pulling me up off the ground. "You fell asleep again. You should really sleep in a bed you know."

I shook my head. "No-no sleep-too many dreams." I started gathering up the papers, pausing only to look at the deranged picture of the Joker staring back at me. I'd been studying up on Gotham City's pantheon of deranged superheros for almost a month and a half now. The file on the Joker was huge, he was a psychopath who would kill anything and anyone that got in his way. His accomplice, Harleen Quinzel or Harley Quinn was about as psychotic as the Joker. Gotham City had a way of making me collapse giggling at all the masked crazies running around.

"Well have a shower," Dick told me, "Bruce has visitors that he wants you to meet. You smell like a bar."

I raised an eyebrow. "A sexy bar."

Dick snorted. It was a somewhat attractive snort. "In your dreams, Quinn."

"Frequently," I shot back. I pulled my shirt off and headed towards the shower attached to my bedroom. I was still sporting a bit of a limp which is why I wasn't allowed to fight yet-Bruce had me on tactical support so whilst Batman and Nightwing got to have the fun, I was stuck in the Bat Cave developing a fondness for Alfred's ice tea. "Stop looking at my ass," I retorted.

"But it's perfect," Dick pouted.

Ever since turning up on Wayne Manors doorstep weeks ago, Dick and I were engaged in a endless battle of witty flirts. I think he wanted to sleep with me but sleeping in Roy's old red hoodie was a turn off-I'd heard him tell Bruce.

I still loved Roy Harper even though we weren't together, but with everything that happened-the lies and the countless lives that were tragically cut short on the night of the Undertaking-I couldn't let go. Taking a quick shower, I found myself smelling like sandalwood not vodka.

Alfred had laid out a blood red dress for me-I can never live without a butler again. Never.

As I came down the stairs, I could hear three voices in Bruce's study. Two were Bruce and Dick-the other was unknown.

"Hey," I called out, letting myself into the study.

Bruce smiled. "You look refreshed, River. I asked Dick to bring you down cause I want you to meet a friend of mine."

I glanced over at the friend. He was tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He fit in well with the dark, broody boys club Bruce and Dick had going on. "Hi," I smiled. "River Quinn."

"Clark Kent," he replied, holding his hand out for me to shake. He turned to Bruce. "I'm taking a big chance here, are you sure she's okay?"

He nodded. "Clark is from Metropolis," Bruce told me.

I raised an eyebrow and my jaw dropped. "No freaking way! What are you doing here?" Only in exile would I meet Superman.

"Bruce informs me that you need some more training," Clark Kent answered. "I thought I'd come and see what you've got and if you're good enough for the League."

"What League?" I inquired.

Bruce smiled-well as much of a smile that Bruce Wayne could muster. "The Justice League."