Of Ninjas and Speedsters

Every time Wally West gets attacked by a crazy ninja-cat, he knows it's Cheshire.

The first time Wally met Jade Nguyen...well, met her when they weren't enemies in battle...she attacked him and dragged him into an alley in Central City.

Really, they weren't enemies in battle this time. She didn't mean to kill him or anything. She just wanted to talk.

"What the-! Who...Cheshire? I'm not even in my uniform!" Wally exclaimed out of sheer panic and confusion.

"Oh, you don't have to call me by my alias; we're practically family now," Jade purred in her freakishly smooth and creepily sultry voice. She even took her mask off to emphasize her point. "Please, call me Jade."

"Says the woman who currently has me pinned down in an alley..." Wally visibly gulped in his nervous state. "Soo...is this an attempt-to-kill-me visit or just a threaten-me-and-talk visit?"

"I hear you're dating my sister now."

"Wow, I didn't know supervillains kept up in the dating grapevine with us superheroes. Especially since it's only been a couple months. You people actually do care."

Jade simply kept ignoring the speedster and held up a sai to his throat without even skipping a beat. It was almost as if she had rehearsed everything.

"Now I know we're technically enemies, but it doesn't mean I still don't have a bit of a soft spot for my baby sister. So, if you hurt Artemis in any way, remember that she has an assassin for the League of Shadows for a sister. Meaning I have all the resources and connections I need to find you wherever you are, and end you. Understood?"

Wally just nodded his head.

Jade's visits to Wally are very, very rare. She's the type who really doesn't do idle chit-chat, which is a bit of an understatement. In the five years he's been with Artemis, he can count the number of times he's seen her on one hand.

It was hard lying to everyone.

Just the other day, Wally had to visit Paula to tell her that Artemis was dead. All he could do was listen to her cry.

The news spread fairly quickly, and before he even knew it, Cheshire had him pinned to the floor (again) in his home in Palo Alto, with a sai to his throat (again).

"Is Artemis really dead?"

He didn't...couldn't answer her. Wally had never heard her voice so small and weak; he'd never seen her body tremble. She didn't need to take the mask off for Wally to tell how hurt she was.

"You were supposed to protect her!" Cheshire screamed and lashed out at the red-head, punching him in the face. "You're a good-for-nothing idiot! Not only did you utterly fail in protecting Artemis, but I come here to find you still cozied up here! Why aren't you out there getting revenge on...you're too calm."

Wally's eyes widened in surprise. He was too shocked to say anything as Jade got up and unpinned him. She stood over him, eyeing him very closely. It was like he was being scrutinized by Batman, the world's greatest detective.

Cheshire had caught him off-guard. It was the middle of the night and he had been ready to go to bed when he'd been ninja'd. Honestly, after all the years he'd been friends with Dick, he should've gotten used to it. He wasn't prepared...or his acting skills just sucked.

"Artemis isn't dead."

Jade didn't even stick around long enough to get a response from Wally. She just disappeared with that Cheshire grin on her face.

Jade's visits to Wally are very, very rare. Sometimes, though, she'd leave things behind for him to find, like a note (threatening to kill him), or a knife (to threaten him with), or even on one occasion, when Wally forgot to get a birthday present for Artemis, a necklace to give her (of course he never gave that to Artemis because he suspected it was stolen).

The next day, as Wally finished getting dressed in the morning, he noticed a sticky note attached to a small velvet box lying on top of Artemis' dresser in their bedroom.

'Looks like another red-head in the family. Don't worry though. I won't tell either of your secrets.'

"...How did she even find this?" Wally asked himself as he opened the box that the note was attached to, briefly wondering what she meant by another red-head.

Inside was, of course, a diamond ring.

Author's Notes:

Liked it? Didn't? Lemme know and review! Thanks for reading.