Continuity: Before and after Infiltrator.

Jade had never cared much for men.

As a child, she had watched a man abandon his crippled wife to save his own skin. She had watched that same man as he vehemently refused to visit his wife in jail, because the police would recognize him by association. And worst of all, she had watched the man emotionally abuse his two young daughters. She had been one of those daughters.

Apart from her father, all the other men she knew were either coldblooded assassins or members of the high and mighty Justice League. The men she didn't know either leered at her or were frightened by her; some were even murdered by her.

That was why, until her late teens, her opinion of men was on par with her opinion of mold- disgusting and uninteresting, and in need of eradication.

Then she met him.

To say that Jade and Roy had met was a bit misleading. Rather, Jade had observed Sportsmaster speaking to Speedy, Green Arrow's sidekick. Out of all the heroes, she disliked Green Arrow and Speedy the least- it must have had something to do with her fondness of arrows, which she associated with her kid sister. It also helped that neither had superpowers; they were just really good with their weapons. Like her.

At the time, she had assumed that Sportsmaster was threatening Speedy to not let Artemis anywhere near Green Arrow- Jade and Sportsmaster knew that Artemis was becoming more and more hesitant to join the Shadows, and was instead becoming more and more interested in what Green Arrow was doing. Or maybe Artemis was interested in what Speedy was doing. After all, he had a spitfire personality just like Artemis did. And he looked like... Jade didn't care what he looked like. She didn't.

It wasn't until almost three years later that she found out exactly what Speedy's situation was- that he wasn't even Roy Harper at all, but a clone, and that he had been programmed to infiltrate the Justice League and act as an unwilling spy. Unfortunately, Sportsmaster was in charge of controlling him. She felt sorry for the boy- she knew what it was like to be controlled by Sportsmaster. She still hated every memory she had of that man.

Unsurprisingly, Roy had no idea what was happening to him. He firmly and earnestly believed he was a good guy. And he was. Like Artemis. In fact, Jade couldn't help but draw parallels between the two archers. Both were good, believed they were good, wanted to be good. But they were programmed otherwise- one was literally programmed to be a mole, and the other was programmed in the way that children grow up believing what their parents believe; in Artemis' case, she was raised to believe that kill-or-be-killed was the way of life.

But there was one significant difference: Artemis could think for herself. From the way she kept stalking Green Arrow, it was becoming apparent that she had found a new role model, that she had realized that she wasn't assassin material.

Roy could not think for himself. He didn't have the chance to determine whether or not he was spy material because he didn't know he was a spy. It was unfair. She hated Sportsmaster even more for taking away yet another person's freedom of choice.

If Artemis could choose her future, Roy should be able to as well. Why she felt that Roy should have the choice of being good, she didn't know.

"I can't, mom," Jade said matter-of-factly. "It's not possible. I'm in too deep."

Having been released from jail, Paula had wasted no time trying to set her eldest daughter straight. "What do you mean you can't? Jade, I was just like you when I was your age. Being a Shadow was my life, my greatest honor. But look what that did to me." She gestured at her wheelchair. "I implore you, Jade, please leave the Shadows."

"It's not that simple. Ra's al Ghul can program us to do his bidding."

"What?"

"Something to do with hypnosis."

"Don't toy with me, Jade. Explain what you mean!"

"Fine. al Ghul uses hypnotic failsafes to subdue his agents and program us. This included you, too. He has key words that send us into a trance, and he tells us what to do and we do it."

Paula was aghast. "Hypnosis? You do not seem to be under the hypnosis anymore, though. How else would you know of this?"

"I found out while investigating something about mind-control. But my point is that I can't leave. If I do, al Ghul will probably find me and program me to kill myself. The only reason you're still alive is because of your condition- you're not exactly fighting anyone anymore, so he doesn't care whether you live or die."

"Oh, Jade, you really are in too deep," Paula sobbed.

Cheshire smiled brokenly. "Don't cry, mom. I'll be okay," she said with much more confidence than she felt.

Having 'lost' one daughter, it appeared that Paula had given her all into saving the other one.

Sportsmaster was the angriest Jade had ever seen him when he came to her and roared, "Artemis became Green Arrow's sidekick! My daughter- my daughter is a goddamned hero!"

Jade couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the way he said 'my daughter' he very rarely used the term with her, and even when he did, it was in the most formal of fashions. Whenever he said "Jade is my daughter," (and he always said it with an air of displeasure) there was about as much emotion and affection in the word 'daughter' as there was in the word 'offspring.'

There was also a twinge of something else. As Green Arrow's new sidekick, Artemis would obviously be working alongside Green Arrow's old sidekick. They would become friends. Possibly more.

Jade told herself that the churning in her stomach was because she hated the idea of her kid sister dating a hero.

However, sometimes Jade wondered if she had made the wrong decision. Instead of trying to become a better Shadow than Sportsmaster, she should have become a hero, too. That would have spited her father more.

But honestly, being all righteous made her nauseous.

Maybe that was why she didn't hate Speedy. He was a good guy with a bad side, although he didn't know he had a bad side. He was in-between, a shade of gray. Like Artemis. Like... herself?

Red Arrow was so much better than Speedy. Jade thought Kid Flash should have been called Speedy, not an archer. And the name Red Arrow just rolled off the tongue.

Red Arrow was no longer a sidekick, either. Good. He was in her league now. And he had declared himself 'his own man.' Fabulous. She understood people who thought like that. She had always lived under the principle of 'every girl for herself.'

So why was she looking out for Roy?

That was the question she was asking herself when she approached him at the grocery store, where they could both pretend to be civilians. If he didn't recognize her, he wouldn't try to attack her before she had a chance to talk.

She found him stocking up on protein shakes. Although she would never admit it, she was a bit nervous. When Jade was nervous, she feigned overconfidence. It helped her believe that she actually was confident.

"Mmm... I see all that protein is being put to good use," she said in a low voice, slowly raking her eyes over his muscular frame.

Roy appeared annoyed, rather than flattered. He ignored her and piled a few more shakes (all plain vanilla, Jade noted) into his basket.

"Don't be so vanilla. Why not try strawberry? Matches your hair." She reached up to touch it. "I like red hair."

Roy, now appearing supremely annoyed, grabbed her wrist before she could touch his hair. "If you like red hair, there's another redhead here you might be interested in, who may also be interested in you, unlike me. He's the guy gutting fish over in the seafood department."

He released her wrist and began to walk away.

"Hey, Red. Going so soon? I thought we could have a date."

Roy glared at her, somewhat cautiously. Jade knew he was wondering if she had called him 'Red' because of his hair, or because she knew who he actually was.

"I don't do dates," was all he said.

"You don't do spy work, either, do you?"

Roy narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but said nothing. Jade pressed on, "Or at least, you think you don't do spy work." She walked closer to him and whispered, "There's a mole in your little team of sidekicks."

Roy's eyes widened. "What? How do you- who are you?"

"Think, Red. Who is the mole? Who are you least likely to suspect?" She placed her hand over his heart. "It's you, Roy Harper. You are the mole. Do you remember, now?"

Roy dropped his basket, a look of horror on his face. Then he froze, looked dazed for a moment, and shook his head, as if clearing it of a crazy dream. When he looked at her again, the look of horror was gone.

"Excuse me," he said. "Sorry for bumping into you." He picked up his basket and headed for the checkstand.

"Wait. Aren't you afraid that I might turn you in? Let them know that your little blame game is just a distraction? How will your friends react to that?"

"Excuse me?" Roy looked genuinely confused. "I think you have the wrong person."

Jade rolled her eyes and sighed. "So amateur. Pretending like this never happened doesn't change a thing. I know more about you than you do, Red Arrow."

Roy scowled. "Who are you? How do you know me? I've never seen you before. And what do you mean, you'll turn me in? For what?"

"So many questions. How about we discuss this over dinner? You're buying, of course."

Roy scoffed. "Just another crazy fangirl. Please, get a life."

Something wasn't right, Jade thought. It didn't seem like he was pretending. Then it suddenly occurred to her that the programming was probably erasing the truth from his memory. She had to try again to make sure.

"You're the one who needs to 'get a life.' You can't even make your own decisions, can you, Red? That's why you have Sportsmaster telling you your every move."

"Sportsmaster? What are you talking about? I haven't seen Sportsmaster since-"

"Since a few days ago, when he advised you to bring your sidekick friends to our little science fair, am I right? True, not everything went according to plan- the Fog was deactivated far too quickly, but-"

"The Fog? Cheshire! You're Cheshire!"

Quick as a flash, Jade pinned Roy against a shelf of vitamin supplements, knocking several over. "I'm not here to fight. This is a grocery store, remember? There are security cameras everywhere. I'm just here to tell you the truth: that you were cloned to be a mole, and everything you do is a part of their plan."

The same look of horror washed over his face again as he remembered. "Broken Arrow. I'm the mole."

"Yes, Red. You are."

"Why are you telling me this? I thought you were one of them."

"Because..."

And just like that, he forgot again. "Excuse me? Is there a reason why you're pushing me into the vitamins?"

Jade was exasperated, but knew there wasn't much she could do against the programming. "You took the last of the vanilla shakes, you greedy hog," she snapped. Childish? Yes. But she wasn't in the mood to taunt him anymore; at least, not now.

Roy looked as if that had been the last thing he had expected to hear. "Erm, here," he said, handing her his entire basket. "I guess I'll try a different flavor, then."

"Good," said Jade. "You should try strawberry. It matches your hair."

The vanilla shake was not sweet enough and tasted artificial. Like Red Arrow, Jade thought. But she finished the bottle anyway as she studied the webpage explaining mind control. Surely there had to be a way to override his programming, and a way for her to break free of al Ghul's hypnosis?

The broken arrow and the girl with the broken smile could both be fixed, could they not?

But until she found an answer, she would have to look out for the man who couldn't look out for himself. Where was this protectiveness coming from? The last time she had felt like this was when Lawrence had decided Artemis was old enough to begin training. She had been concerned about Artemis because she loved her little sister. She was concerned about Roy because...?

Jade spent the rest of that night in a pub full of leering, drunken strangers, reminding herself of all the reasons why she hated men.