The Adventures of Nightgirl

9: Training

Ashley sat crouched on the same branch that she had met Bart on a day prior, waiting for him to zoom up to meet her. This time she made sure that she had been out early enough for them to get more than a half hour of hanging out.

As she waited the assassin let her cerulean eyes drift up to the clouds up above, taking in the splay of glittering stars. She wondered if Abel was up there watching her, smiling down at her with his goofy grin.

Shaking her head Ashley cleared her mind of him, making sure to blink the stray tears from her eyes and scrub her face with the back of her hand to dry it. Just as she made sure her face was dry a brisk wind brushed her cheeks and blew her hair away from her face.

"Good evening Bat Babe." Said a drawling voice. Grinning, Ashley rotated on her branch to see Bart fully. "Good tidings Quickie." She said breathily.

Bart seemed taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Quickie? I suppose payback is a bitch on that one." Grinning Ash reached foreword and placed a hand solemnly on his shoulder. "If Bat Babe stays, so does Quickie."

Bart seemed to accept this, then took her hand from his shoulder and laced his fingers in hers. He was silent for a moment as he gazed at their intertwined hands, then bent down to inspect all the scars there. "I don't know your story, but I know hands like these. They speak lengths about a persons character."

Ashley closed her eyes slowly and took a moment to wonder how he would feel about those scars is he knew that the majority of them were from her training as an assassin. Letting the thought drop, she said hoarsely "You'd be surprised about a lot, maybe one day I'll tell you the whole story."

He looked at her funny and opened his mouth to say something, however Ash silenced him but leaning foreword and pressing her lips against his. The kiss was lingering and warm, softer than any she had ever had before. She felt his arms draw her close and tangle in her hair; in turn her hands went around his neck.

After that, the pair simply talked about Bart's missions, and about Ashley's newly allowed freedom. Police sirens wailed in the distance, and Bart snapped to attention. His arms were still around her waist, and in a heartbeat the pair was inside of her room. "Duty calls." He said, and kissed her again. Pausing to lock eyes with her he then disappeared in a wave of air, leaving only the scent of cologne and her tingling lips as proof he had ever been.

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Training started briskly at 6:00 a.m. the next morning, although Ash was already awake and sweaty from her workout. Bruce was there as well, again going through the highly complex Yoga poses with her.

When the other people began filing into the room, Ashley and Bruce had ceased their contortions and had joined the group of hero kids. Dick walked to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder with a smile on his face. She grinned up at him, making sure that he knew that she appreciated the gesture.

The training wasn't anything overly extraordinary, she did struggle with the use of a grapple gun and the use of the bat belt. All the compartments confused her to be honest. She excelled at hand to hand combat, and also with target practice. However when she was informed of the fact that she would have to trade in her knives for batarangs, she protested largely.

"I can hit any place on the human body, I can stab them without killing them." She said sharply as Dick told her about the no-kill policy kept.

Bruce finally stepped in and said "We'll put you to the test, I'll send you through the target room, if you miss once you give up the knives. No negotiation." Ashely nodded grimly, and jogged to her room to grab her belt of knives.

Upon arriving back at the training room, she saw that there was a staircase leading down into a place she had never seen. Grabbing the hilt of her favorite blade in anticipation, she slipped into the shadows flawlessly and padded down the steep stairs.

The room was dim, and divided by sections of paneling made of some plywood. Walking through the first section she heard a soft pop, and ducked down spinning gracefully to locate the sound. There was a thick piece of styrofoam in the shape of man nearly directly behind her. Her first instinct was to slash his throat, however she slid around the dummy and slashed the backs of his thighs which would has sent him to his knees, she then slammed an elbow into the top of the dummies head.

Leaping over her first victim she jogged down the corridor and was confronted by another dummy of the same make. This one go a dagger in each of his shoulders, rendering them both ineffective while still missing the important tendons and veins.

The rest of the practice went similarly, and as promised Ashley didn't miss. Once she reached the final turn in the plywood, a form appeared in her line of sight. Flexing her arm to deliver a crippling blow, she noted just in time that it was Dick standing in front of her. Instead of lacerating her newfound brother she slammed her arm around her side and kept a firm grip on the blade.

She stood panting in front of her brother, who was very pale in the face as he looked at the flecks of styrofoam on her arms and chest. No doubt imagining them as blood.

Slow clapping met her ears, and the sarcastic little Damian walked out from behind Dick. "Impressive and you didn't kill him." Was all the little bat said.

Bruce followed, and went to inspect all of the dummies. After thoroughly looking at all of their 'Wounds' he came back saying "You may keep your blades, however if you slip up, just once you're done."

Grinning, Ashley listened to the rest of his speech about duties and listening to him mildly. Smiling even wider as he finally said "Let's get back to training shall we."