"So she's not a vengeful lover hating on romance then? Good to know. Now do you want to explain what in the hell is her actual problem?", The Flash searched the room for answers, imploring, "Because I really have no clue what's going on."

Leaning forwards in his designated chair, Cyborg addressed the rest of the League (well, the five other members that actually came) at the silent signal of Batman: the standard narrowing of the eyes and slight dip of the head as his mouth set in a slightly firmer line. "As far as she's explained it, she was hunting someone, following them across the world. According to her, she's after a bounty- apparently quite a high sum, some several million credits or so."

Shazam sat back in his chair and huffed, "Daaamn, a bounty hunter, that makes her, like, twice as hot."

Cyborg gave him a strange look, to which Shazam chuckled and raised his hands in innocence, "Heyheyeheeey, I'm not tryna move to her. Shot your shot bro, I'm not any kind of competition and she seems more than willing if ya know what I mea-"

Barry, who'd noticed the growing glare on Batman's face, nudged Shazam to be quiet just as Vic stood up. Obscurely distempered, Cyborg stared at the super powered teen with a clenched jaw and fists digging in to the table, Leave it. I'm not playing."

Superman was at his side in an instant, one hand on the table, the other on Cyborg's arm, "Vic, calm down.", he soothed, a true pacifist at heart.

The half-man shook his head, clearing away the frustration and a speck of dust that had fallen in to his visor. He looked up at Clark, "I'm fine, it's okay.", and sat back down. Clearing his throat as Superman resumed his seat, Vic continued, "She's alien, from a planet in the third quadrone of the Distiom region, sector 371. One of the last of her kind after the ethnic cleansing by the other inhabitants of her planet.", he looked at the empty seat with the Lantern embellishment. "The Corps was too late. And so she found work as a bounty hunter across the galaxies under the authority of the Reon intergalactic committee- I've come across them before."

Diana concluded, "So she checks out. Not an enemy then."

In his usual growl, Batman contradicted, "We don't know that for sure."

"Hey, uh,", Shazam raised his hand, "did you get a name for the snake-bounty-hunter-lady while you were at it?", he asked Cyborg.

"Leys. Siza Leys."

It was the way he said it that piqued Batman's interest. Like his voice warred with itself: wishing to spit the words out like horrible medicine in a child's mouth; and wanting to let an eternity pass as it rolled off his tongue like the sweetest of confectionaries. Batman only hoped that Cyborg didn't let his head loose itself- mostly because that was a very valuable, expensive head, but also because Vic was a friend, young though he was.

Redirecting the topic, Batman said, "Her mark. What intel do you have on that? For that kind of money, what danger do they pose to public security?"

Cyborg hung his head, "She refused to say anything until we let her out of the cell and (I quote) 'stop treating her like a dangerous criminal and start treating her like a dangerous hunter'.", he snorted cynically, "Doing herself a lot of favours trying to get on our good side, isn't she?"

Unable to suppress the need to frequently remind everyone he was a juvenile twat, Shazam muttered under his breath, "Only good side she wants to get on is yours. And by 'good side' I mean your Richard Grayson."

Cyborg missed half of it, but Superman's facial expressions said it all. Now, as a darling, sweet, innocent guy from Smallville with holiness ingrained in his very soul, the face Clark was making was both comical and one of the cutest things Batman had ever seen. Nothing in the world would ever get Bruce to admit to that, nothing whatsoever.

"That's it."

Clark, Diana and Barry had Cyborg restrained, tugging him back to stop him from blasting the cocky adolescent to smithereens. As Vic took his seat once more, and Billy stopped regretting   his existence- after several strict words from the other four surrounding and not limited to 'what's gotten in to you Vic?'.

Batman cleared his throat, "Now that's all in order,", he growled, "we deal with releasing this Siza Leys and finding out as much as we can about this...mark of hers. Assess the threat.", he glared in to Billy's soul before finding his next victim in Vic's. "Any further trouble and there will be consequences."

***

"And a five six seven eight. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. One. Two. Three. Four- no no no! Jonathan you're moving like a deformed kangaroo! Donna, is that a figure-of-eight motion or a symptom of Tourette's??"

Jon and Donna broke their positions and assumed the awkward stance of standing a metre apart with their arms across their chest, faces flushed from the exertion of half an hour of dance practise with the unforgiving teachers Damian and Raven. Nothing they'd done had been anywhere near satisfactory, and they hadn't even mentioned the music they would use. Even Raven, who the two had assumed would be nicer than Damian, was ruthless in her training.

"Look, look, this isn't working at all.", Raven sighed, hands on her hips, clothed in her purple leotard minus the Azarathian cloak. "I'm sorry.", she threw her hands up. "Right, first things first," she walked forwards and gripped one of Donna's wrists and one of Jon's, pulling them until there wasn't a centimetre between their shoulders, "you need to get used to proximity."

Sitting on a bench in the corner, Jaime was at a crossroads between laughing and assembling a rescue squad. In the simulation room in the HOJ, the four of them had been allowed all the space and freedom they needed for Jonathan and Donna to be trained in the art of dance...and what a shambles that was. It had been nonstop criticism after criticism and the two younger teens had been worked to the bone.

"Second thing's second,", Damian picked up, circling them like a hawk, "you need to understand the roles that you have to play." His bare feet paced and paced, stepping lightly over the floor in seamless motions as he analyses their movements, something that was second nature to a born killer. "It isn't a matter of simply putting moves in to a sequence, it's allowing your actions to tell a story, paint a picture. And to be a part of a story, you have to know and feel who you are supposed to be, the character you portray, their thoughts and feelings and journey." Damian stopped and his eyes glinted in the white light overhead, a startlingly vivid green like the backs of tropical beetles. "I ask you now, Donna and Jonathan, what is this story and who are your characters?"

No answer.

"Well? Donna? Jonathan? Anyone care to answer?", his voice raised a few degrees and Jon dug his feet in to the ground, anger building.

Mumbling something along the lines of '...didn't really think about...' , Donna folded her arms, the same tension and irritation building in her as it did Jonathan.

Further criticism took the two off the edge. At long last the half-kryptonian snapped, leaning in to his southern accent far more than usual, "Oh yeah? Well if you're so damn good and know everythin' why don't you help us properly?! This ain't fair- you're tellin' is what's wrong but not how in the world we're supposed to fix it!", red rose and captured his eyes, brimming with resentful tears. "I'm not doing this no more!"

The door slammed shut behind him.

Tugging her hair tie off, Donna seethed at the older two, "I'm with Jon- this just isn't working!"

She followed him out of the inactive simulation room, leaving two baffled trainers and a heavily concerned Jaime who (after a disappointed sigh) found no more reason to stay in the room.

***

Lounging on a sofa in the League's common room (of sorts), after a tiring workout in the simulation room, Raven was warmly greeted by a weary Cyborg. "Hey Rae, how's life treating you?", he said, sitting next to her and groaning as he sunk in to the sofa's soft seat. The demoness looked up as her boyfriend took a seat across from them and greeted Vic with a respectful nod.

Opening her senses, Raven was almost winded by the flurry of sensations propelling from the young metal-man. Recovering from the shock and waving off Damian's cautionary glance, the demoness addressed Vic, "Are you alright? Your aura is all over the place. Did something happen recently?"

The pupil of Cyborg's organic eye dilated and contracted and his his throat bobbed as a memory blazed through his mind.

Hands snugly around his neck, the woman smashed her lips in to his with a feverish hunger, pulling up one leg and wrapping it around his. He froze for a moment before responding with equal vigour. She wasted no time, searing his lips with her tongue and exploring the cavern of his mouth as he did hers. He moaned in to her embrace and his hands fell to her hips as she unhooked hers from his neck, letting them hang on his shoulders. The snake that had wound itself around her, barely shielding her from complete exposure had long since slithered away to rest in the corner. She broke away from his lips for a brief moment, her nose still pressed against his, and gasped, "We have a while, let's not waste it."

His murmured response sealed the next few minutes for them.

"Then shut up."

With that, his lips sought out her neck and...well, you get the picture.

Vic cleared his throat.

"No, nothing at all."

The next people to walk in to the room were Superman, Batman, the Flash and Wonderwoman. Currently, those in the common room were the only ones in the HOJ: Shazam had left for 'serious business' and the three Titans had gone back to the Manor.

As crime-fighting, world-saving, badass heroes, it was a strange sight, seeing the heroes engage in small-talk and just be...casual. Even Batman, the impenetrably firm master of the night, had a social element to him apart from the charade of Bruce Wayne. As he spoke to Diana, chastising her about not knowing how to be gentle with babies and small children (long story short, she spent five minutes with Bella and almost suffocated the little girl from hugging her too tightly, in Diana's defence, the child was too adorable!), Superman tried to chide Damian and Raven about the handing of the Jonna-dancing situation. The two little ones had been seen leaving the HOJ in a little huff and Clark had followed them, soon joined by Jaime. They'd spilled their miseries to him and he felt compelled to sort the commotion out. All the while, Barry tried to squeeze as much information about Vic's sex life out as he could- and that wasn't getting him anywhere, so he eventually relented and tuned in to Batman and Diana's convo.

"No Diana, a real dagger is not an appropriate sixth birthday present, no matter what Damian may hint to you. Or a gun, if you've been having any more little chats with Jason."

Her face was appalled, "But, surely, a strong bow and arrows is fine? A young lady must be taught to fight and defend herself!"

"How about a mace?", Barry chimed in. Queue Batglare Tm.

Interrupting the oddly domestic situation occurring and casting the room in to tense setting of preparedness for any threat, a glowing circle of yellow appeared, hovering in the air between the two opposite facing sofas. As night ensued outside the window, the room was illuminated by the swirling golden light until it was shut out by a figure stepping through.

Wonder Woman had him pinned to the floor before he had a chance to move another inch. Recognition shone in the eyes of Robin, Raven and Batman. Calling for her to let the man go, the three wondered at the reason for the man showing himself. As far as they were concerned, this man was supposed to be working inside Hell, piecing together the sections of a grand scheme on Damian and Raven's behalves.

"Emrys? What is it?", Damian clasped arms with his former fellow trainee in the League of Assassins.

Raven too greeted the man of demonic heritage, mentally remarking that his appearance hadn't changed since their last encounter. His irises - like rings of gold that contrasted beautifully with his warm, dark skin- flared brighter than ever as he let out in a flurry, "She's returned. I could feel it lift from the wastelands! It should register in your senses any time now- search for it!"

As alarm ran through the part-demons, all else in the room were left thoroughly confounded. "What is he talking about? Who are you?", Clark voiced for the rest of them, as Raven shut her eyes and let her senses fly wider than ever, deeper and deeper until she found what she wanted.

Throwing her eyes wide open, completely consumed by the purest black, Raven looked through Damian, straight in to his soul, and nodded, not holding the power to speak with shock.

"Damian?", his father placed his hands on the ex-assassin's shoulders. "Damian, what is it? Tell me."

Slumping on to the sofa,back stiffly straight, staring in to nothingness, Raven murmured, "But how?"

An emotionally unstable mess, Damian rand his hands through his hair and bit so hard on his lip he drew blood. Eyes flashing from dark emerald to amber and back again, Damian finally settled back to soft jade and answered her. "It's Talia. She always finds a way.", his cynical tone spit poison.

Bruce shrunk back, "She...she's-"

Another portal snapped in to existence, a furious red and spinning like a plane turbine. Its user stepped out, heels first, scathing voice second.

Triumphant, facing her old lover and son, Talia Al Ghul smiled a venomous smile.

"Alive."

A.N:

Oooooh bet you didn't see that coming! Talia is back in the motherfucking house bitches!

Also...early update!!! Just because I wanted to leave it there and pack everything in to the next chapter. Mwhahahaha!

Thank you

-Bats ^_^