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THE HIMALAYAS, LEAGUE OF SHADOWS TEMPLE
Drake Lance
Nyssa opens the door to the temple and I walk in seeing all the assassins training. They stop training and turn towards me starring at me. This is my future. “Resume your training.” Nyssa shouts and they continue to fight each other. We walk around them as they continue to train, and I follow Nyssa as she knows the way.
“So when do we start?” I ask Nyssa wanting to begin my training and get this over with. The sooner I’m done, the faster I can save my city. Which means the faster I can beat the shit out of Joe for stealing my city from me.
“How about a bed to sleep on?” Silver Siren complains and Sara turns towards him. Sara moves her head gesturing to follow her and Silver does so, as they go a separate path.
“I’ll show you to your room.” Sara says softly and they both disappear into a hallway. I continue following Nyssa and we get into a courtyard where it begins to snow, and the floor is frozen, covered in snow. I spot a rack of combat weapons and I drop my bags as she grabs on to two bo staffs. Slade does so too, and we both take our jackets off feeling the freezing cold hit our skin.
“Your past sensei, who was a former assassin taught you to burry your guilt with anger.” Nyssa says as she tosses the staff towards me going to train me first. Slade moves to the side knowing his place and begins to take a look. “I will teach you to confront it, and face the truth. You know how to fight six men, I will teach you how to engage 600. You know how to disappear, I can teach you how to become truly invisible. I will teach you the ways to become the chosen for the dragon.” Nyssa says and we begin sparring. Nyssa moves fast, swiftly, landing every move accurately. I fail to do the same as she makes me feel like an amateur fighter, I’ve never been out fought like this.
I’ve been trained by the best, taken down the hardest people ever. Nyssa is faster and more accurate than anyone I’ve ever fought. I continue to spar Nyssa trying to read her moves but they’re unpredictable.
OVER THE MONTHS
We continue to fight together, this time in the spring, where the flowers and trees begin to bloom. Nyssa takes me and Slade in a sparring, and she’s not showing any sign of pain neither mercy. I manage to get a hit on Nyssa, as I move the same pace as her, reading her moves better than before. I land my hits and tricks on her, and she’s beginning to look like the amateur herself. As soon as I get cocky, Nyssa takes me down and I slam down on the floor.
I pull myself out, watching Slade take Nyssa down himself as they fight with bo staffs and Slade doesn’t give up either. I hear a snicker from a far and turn around to see Silver Siren watching from the shadow, leaning on a pillar. He’s dressed in The League of Assassins uniform once again and I get up smiling back at him. Silver gives me a cold gaze and I walk towards him as he stays in his position.
“Long time no see.” I say to him as I spot a couple of bruises on his face. Trying to talk to Silver Siren in the temple has been difficult. I’ve been training everyday, preparing myself with Nyssa while Silver has been rumored to be doing work for League of Shadows. He’s been spying, gathering intel for us about the other half of the League. “Where you been?” I ask and Silver scoffs as I see him enjoying his time.
“Am I supposed to stay here and watch you get beat up everyday to be chosen by a scary dragon?” Silver mocks me and I’m easier with him, as he’s become more easier to talk to. I can’t tell if he’s faking it, but this friendship has grown. He’s become a twin brother I’ve never had, but many people think he’s expendable which is the reason why he’s risking his life for the intel. Nobody trusts him except me.
“Didn’t expect you’d find work here so easy.” I hint at his secret suicide missions and he knows it already. He knows what people think about him and it must hurt to have the whole world against you, I know what that feels like.
“I guess when nobody trusts you, it’s easy to be sent on missions in hope you’d die.” Silver says with honesty and I look at him seriously knowing that this isn’t fair. He’s done a lot for The League of Shadows and for us. I hear Slade slam down on the floor as Nyssa has finally taken him down and I turn around to look at him.
“Lets take a break.” Nyssa says exhausted walking out, and Slade gets back up walking towards me. Slade gets close and I sense the tension between Silver Siren and him as they’ve never clearly gotten along. It gets quiet and I feel the awkwardness.
“You almost had her there.” I say to Slade and Slade chuckles as he sweats intensively.
“Yeah, we’ve been going at it for months now and I feel like we’re going nowhere. I don’t know what it is.” Slade says and as Slade talks I sense Silver Siren get tense and annoyed with Slade’s presence near him. I try to stay calm to balance the tension but it gets worse.
“Maybe cause you’re not.” Silver says through some bottled anger. Looks like that runs in the other Earth too. “We’ve been here for months, and have absolutely no progress on your training to become some stupid dragon. For all we know this could be a distraction.”
“Look who’s talking…” Slade says surprised going in for the attack as they’re both harsh and ruthless. I wouldn’t want to see them go at it with knives. “Aren’t you the one who brought them to Star City?” Slade begins to blame Silver Siren and he’s wrong, Silver didn’t bring them in to Star City. Silver was in Star City already when they were there, which is how he took on the job.
“You must have me confused with the man that raised a monster. I guess the apple didn’t fall so far from the tree.” Silver says attacking family and it gets serious, and intense.
“Nobody knows who the hell you are, how do we know you’re not the one spying on us for my son?” Slade scolds Silver and Silver scoffs as he finds his argument irrelevant, and it is.
“How do we know you’re not going to kill us all when the mirakuru rage hits again?” Silver begins to get personal, as if he’s dug up this information to attack him on it.
“Okay stop.” I say wanting to break up the argument before it gets bloody.
“No.” Slade says angrily and I become nervous. “I see you for who you really are. You’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Slade says getting deep and I can tell that automatically pisses Silver off. Silver clenches his jaw and makes a fist, and throws a quick punch to Slade’s throat. Silver kicks Slade down and I try to stop him and Silver throws me off him.
I stand by and watch as this is the only way for those two to sort things out together. They have bottled anger and the only way to let it out, is by fist fighting. I know these two very well, and they’re too much alike for my liking.
“Я собираюсь убить тебя, ты, одноглазый пес / I’m going to kill you, you one eyed dog.” Silver says in fluent Russian as he’s reverting to his native tongue through anger. Slade slowly gets up and Silver walks towards him as there’s more from Silver. Slade goes in for a punch and Silver grabs on to Slade’s wrist, planting himself on the ground and throwing his kick on to Slade’s ribcage. I know this technique as it’s Russian sambo and I wouldn’t have expected it from a former KGB agent.
Slade groans loudly and Silver stands away checking Slade as he’s going to go in for more. Slade is distracted by his pain and anger, and he’s not focusing. “Is that all you got you Soviet scum?” Slade continues to mock Silver and Silver is in full piss mode. Slade picks up a bo staff and Silver scoffs with a small smirk.
“Невежественный американец. / Ignorant American.” Silver says and Slade quickly runs towards Silver. Slade begins to attack Silver with the staff but Silver dodges it. Silver counters one of Slade’s attacks using krav maga techniques, as he grabs on to the staff pushing it towards Slade’s face as it hits him. Silver then pulls the staff away from Slade and they break it in half. Silver manages to disarm one of the sides from Slade and Silver backs away quickly knowing what to do. As Slade dashes towards Silver going to swing down the broken half staff, Silver tackles on to Slade and begins to knee Slade in the rib. Slade goes in for another punch, but Silver catches his wrist again, as his other hand grabs on to Slade’s shoulder. Silver sweeps his leg under Slade slamming Slade down to the ground one more time as Silver secures Slade’s fall with Silver’s knee over his chest. Silver begins to throw violent punches at Slade’s face as Slade has given up and I begin to know that this is over.
“Stop!” I shout walking towards Silver, as I pull him off of Slade. “It’s done.” I tell Silver and Silver stops punching Slade in the face, as Slade’s face is bruised and blood soaked reminding me of the man I almost killed in the alley months ago. I hesitate looking at Slade’s face and I look at Silver’s knuckles as they’re bruised now and covered in blood.
Silver gets off Slade and spits on him walking away. “I’m done with you all.” Silver says giving up on being the good person he wants to be and I let him walk away as it’s his decision. I look back at Slade disappointed in him as this is his own mess, and I’m not going to clean it up for him. I’ve looked out for him enough this past year, and I’m not his babysitter.
______________
Silver Siren
Later in the evening I head into my room still angered after taking a walk around the nearby fishing village. I can’t stand to stay with these Americans one more day for my ticket back! I’ve done enough to help and I deserve my way back to Earth-2 now. I’ve waited for months on ends for these lousy heroes to strengthen themselves, and they’ve gone absolutely nowhere. The bounty-hunter assassin couldn’t handle a bit of KGB sambo, making me realize they’re not going anywhere with this. Nyssa has lead us all on and I’m going to take things on to my own hands.
I begin to pack my bag as I’m done with the people on Earth-1. I’ve been lied to, lead on, threatened, and treated like shit. I begin to throw my things into my bag and I hear my door open, and I look over in a reflection to see Slade opening it.
“You’ve come back for a death wish?” I say loudly as I’m over him, primarily him. No one believes in me except for Drake, but hell, he can’t convince anyone. Maybe they’re right not to trust me.
“If you wanted to kill me you would’ve.” Slade says walking in as he’s made a point and I’ve worked hard these last months to clean up my act. Drake believed in me and I took on his word to prove him that he had every right to believe in me. I believed I was doing something good, I believed I was the good that Drake believed me to be. Maybe he was lying, using me for my skills. “Look, I’m sorry.” Slade apologizes and I’ve never heard someone apologize to me.
“It’s too late for that game.” I tell him as I check through the bag of passports not deciding which one I’ll use as they have their own identities, and cards that I need to find.
“Look I know what you’ve heard about me, I became a self absorbed monster.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.” I say sarcastically as this is becoming about him quicker than I thought it would be.
“My point is even with someone with a past as checkered as mine can still turn their life around. You can be a hero.” He says and I pause the packing as I’ve proved my heroism with them many times.
“I was being a hero. I agreed to work with Drake and you all, saved your lousy asses at the airport months ago, and have been gathering intel about your piece of shit son these last months!” I rant to him as I’m getting defensive not wanting to deal with anymore of Slade’s bullshit. “And no one still believes me.”
“So what? You think you deserve a medal for trying to be good for 5 seconds?” Slade says making me sound hysterical and it’s exactly what I wanted. A little trust would work. “Redemption isn’t a destination, it’s a journey!” Slade says and I begin to listen to him truthfully. “I wasted years of my life running away from all the bad things I had done because I didn’t want to face the pain that I caused. Because I didn’t want to be that person. Then I realize the only way to stop being that person was to come home to someone and own up to the things I had done.” Slade refers to Drake and gets guilty. “It was painful, and it took a long time. But it was the only way for me to become someone else. Someone better than who I was.” He says and I don’t have a Drake Lance like Slade does in my life, neither never wanted it. The only person I could care for is gone for all I know. Papa is on the other Earth, maybe even not anymore.
“Well that’s great for you.” I cheer him on as he’s done with his ironic speech. Slade doesn’t know me at all. My entire life was built to be the person I am today. The second I was born, I was destined to be The Soviet Union’s greatest spy to exist. I was the living legend of The Black Wolf. “But even if I wanted to change, it’s a little bit too late, because this is who I am.” I tell Slade as I zip my bag up and carry it out of the room.
“Silver.” I hear Slade’s strong voice and I stop. I turn around curiously wanting to hear the last thing he has to say hoping it’s worth my time.
“On your Earth… What am I like? I mean… do we know each other.” He asks and as he does I’m reminded of the adventures with Agent Wilson. The times we betrayed and fought each other, but somehow at the end, came back together.
“You were a CIA spy.” I reveal to him not going to tell the full story. There’s no need to prove it. Slade looks at me wanting more information and I know what he wants. He’s attempting to see if me and him had romance on my Earth so he can predict if his romance with Drake is destined by the Universe. “He was a crap spy but we always found our way back together.” I tell him the truth and it hurts me to tell him. Slade and his doppelgänger are both assholes, but nothing alike at all.
I leave the room and walk out of the temple heading on my own journey. This life isn’t for me.
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