Worst Case Scenario

Chapter 36: Unlikely Relationships

Ow...

"Rise and shine, pretty boy."

...Huh...?

Roy opened his eyes. Everything was so bright.

No, that was just him. Probably a side effect of time spent unconscious after being electrocuted.

He didn't know how or why Rocket had switched sides, but she was going to pay for that. Right after Artemis.

"Hey!" came an annoyed female voice, combined with fingers snapping in his face. "Red-themed archery man! Wake up already!"

Roy blinked a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to reveal a mop of black hair around a smiling cat mask.

"Finally" said the woman, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair. "You have no idea how long I've been sitting here watching you."

Cheshire. Watching him lying unconscious for an indeterminate amount of time. Of course. Only she would be that creepy.

He quickly scanned the rest of the room, which was rather small and seemed more like a storage room. Concrete walls, metal door with Cheshire in another chair between him and it. Add in a two-way mirror and it could be any one of dozens of police interrogation rooms he'd seen.

Cheshire removed her mask and dumped it on the table, revealing her surprisingly attractive face. She was awfully relaxed for guarding a dangerous prisoner, but he could tell she had at least two sais on her belt and a couple of other weapons tucked into various parts of her tunic, though whether they were meant for him or someone else he wasn't sure.

So. Current situation:

I'm handcuffed to a chair in a small room with a dangerous League of Shadows assassin/really hot girl/creepy stalker person staring at me.

Really not how he'd been expecting his day to go.

"Say? Why is it that we only ever meet when one of us is locked up or trying to kill the other?" Cheshire asked, sighing wishfully.

"Because you're evil?" he asked.

Oddly enough, she didn't slap him, like he'd been expecting. Instead, she chuckled.

"I guess we kind of are in the wrong lines of work for a serious relationship" she said.

"You could always change that" Roy said.

"So could you" said Cheshire pointed out.

"Not happening" the archer replied.

"That's what Artemis said."

Roy narrowed his eyes. "I'm not like her."

"Really?" Cheshire replied. "You know that things aren't that black and white. Good guy, bad guy. It's all relative. Who's to say that the Justice League aren't the bad guys? Protecting those who don't deserve protection? Master Ra's would say so. He'd say that he's trying to save the world from itself."

"Through contract killings and genocidal usage of superweapons? Sorry, but I'm not taking morality lessons from Ra's al Ghul."

"The point is... things are changing. The Justice League isn't going to last much longer. I don't know all the details, but there's a plan in motion. It can't be stopped. And when it's over, anyone in or associated with the League will, you know..."

Cheshire glanced down at the floor, as if what she was trying to say something she really didn't want to say. Roy had never thought that a professional assassin would feel awkward about saying the phrase 'be killed.'