It seems to always start as a calm, nonchalant morning, doesn't it?

The Heathens were all sitting around their breakfast nook, eating their meals in silence, the only noise being the scraping of utensils against bowls and plates and the occasional sip of orange juice or coffee. All of the teens were deep in thought, the quartet still waking up and groggy from a late night of watching horror flicks.

The shrill ring of a phone snapped everyone out of their sleep-induced trance, which made everyone glare at the metal device that cheerfully buzzed on the countertop without a care in the world. Jade was the one to make a move for the cell phone - seeing as it was hers to begin with - snatching it off the countertop and looking at the caller ID. She rolled her eyes, glancing up at the trio that was looking at her like she was the one that was shrieking obnoxiously. "Al Ghul is calling."

"Gross." Jason muttered, sipping his coffee.

"Answer it." Tara shrugged. "He probably wants a progress report."

"Or he is sending us on another mission. God, I hope that isn't the case. I am so not in the mood for a mission right now." Rose groaned.

Jade ignored her Kittens, answering the call. "Cheshire speaking."

"I would assume so, seeing as I called your cell phone." al Ghul replied shortly. Jade rolled her eyes.

"To what do I owe the call, Demon's Head?" She purred, putting on the "Cheshire Voice," which made the other Heathens glance over at her before deciding it was not worth their attention.

"The Light has heard of your successful mission," he levely responded, "Congratulations, I expected nothing less after your last encounter with the team of sidekicks went... awry."

Jade winced, reaching over for the large mug of coffee. She needed caffeine for this conversation. "Aw, thanks."

Rose tilted her head, before mouthing "mission?" with a look of anxiety and annoyance.

Apparently the shrug the cat-themed assassin gave was enough for her as she stuffed an overflowing spoon into her mouth with a content hum.

"I am not the only member of the Light who thinks this way," Ra's continued, "And they wish to meet you and the team."

"We would love to."

"That's not all," he continued as Jade rolled her eyes, "We would like to analyze the worth of your team to the Light."

The edges of the latter's lips twitched down. "Sure," she smoothly shot back, "Name a time and place."

That got looks from the teens, who visibly sagged and let out bleary groans into their finished breakfast.

Cheshire hummed into the phone, assuring Ra's that the Heathens would be there before hanging up. She turned to her younger counterparts, all of whom were staring at her with 'bleh' expressions on their faces, not looking forward to a meeting with the Light. "Oh, cheer up."

"Why?" Tara grumbled, grabbing her dishes and walking to the sink. "What is there to cheer up about?"

Jason joined Tara in the kitchen. "Yeah, unless we get to beat someone up, I don't see what there is to cheer up about."

Jade winked.

Rose narrowed her eyes. "We are meeting with the Light. You know them, right? Bunch of stiff old biddies. But powerful stiff old biddies. There is no way we are beating on them."

"I never said we were beating up the Light." Jade sang, sauntering out of the room and leaving her dishes behind. Rose noticed this and cursed.

"She always does this. Makes us clean up after her." The white haired mercenary muttered. "For team leader, she sure is lazy."

"Heard that!" Jade called back through the opened door.

"Good! Maybe you'll start cleaning up after yourself!" Rose snarked, grabbing the older teen's dishes and bringing them to the sink.

Tara snorted, mumbling something under her breath that sounded like 'doubtful'. Rose shot her a smile, one the princess returned.

Jason, being the resident annoying little brother, had to ruin the moment of bonding between the two frenemies.

He slapped them both on the back of the head, snickering when they turned around with knives in hand and he was gone, only his laughter was left reverberating off the walls.

"Little shit." Rose grunted, putting her knife back in the sink. "Lucky we all need to be there for this meeting."

"Yes, we do...but in one piece and not maimed? I don't believe that was specified." Tara mused, following Rose's lead and slipping the knife back into the sink.

There was an exaggerated gasp and a shriek of, "You wouldn't!"

Tara smirked, turning to call over her shoulder. "I won't hesitate, bitch!"

Silence followed, before hurried footsteps and a shaky, "Jade?" rang out.

"No maiming each other!" She yelled, "We need to look professional - a hard task already - for now, do it after the meeting."

"I trusted you!" The girls could hear the pout in his voice.

Rose and Tara snickered, leaving the dishes to soak as they too headed off in the directions of the rooms to get changed. The mercenary muttered something under her breath about maybe getting better accommodations after the meeting, starting with a place with rooms for each of them.

Jason strode by at the comment - in full Red X costume - and chuckled. "Aw, Rose, what's wrong? Do you not enjoy Terra's snoring?"

The older teen grinned at him. "I said one of you snored, never said it was princess over here." Jason whipped his mask off at that, gaping at the two girls. Rose's grin grew. "You sound like a freight train had a baby with a ferry."

Jason pouted once more. "I feel like I should change my name to Resident Punching Bag."

Tara pursed her lips, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It would suit you better."

"Come on slowpokes! We are on a schedule here!" Jade's voice called from the common area.

The three younger Heathens looked to one another, speaking with just their eyes but all screaming the same thing with them.

Cheshire is really stressing over this.

+ + +

Multiple hours and a helicopter ride later the team of teens was disembarking the aircraft in Greater Bialya in all their costumed glory. Immediately, the three youngest looked to Cheshire for direction. The default leader didn't spare them a glance as she slipped her mask over her face and began striding towards the back entrance of the Bialyan palace. Without hesitation, her teammates fell in step with her and the quartet strutted towards their destination in silence.

Their confidence, however, was quickly dashed away when the palace door opened and they were greeted by Deathstroke, sans mask. He grinned down at the group of teens as they came to stand before him, seeing as he was blocking their entrance into the palace and they were there to make a good impression, not start a fight with the Light's enforcer.

Eyeing his three former proteges, Deathstroke opened his arms in an inviting manner. "I am impressed that you three have lasted as long as you have, my children."

Cheshire felt Terra tense next to her, side eyeing Ravager through the lenses in her mask to see the white haired teen was just as on edge as their meta teammate. Knowing Deathstroke was probably playing some angle by trying to get the team off their A-game, the assassin decided to do something about it.

She stepped towards the older killer, slipping off her mask to reveal her signature smirk and an aura of confidence. "Sorry to disappoint you, Slade, but your children have moved on from you." Cheshire grabbed Deathstroke by his ponytail and pulled him down so his ear was level with her mouth. She twisted the hair beneath her fingers, tightening her grip as she purred in his ear. "They have found someone else to call daddy. And believe me, I will take much better care of them than you ever could."

Releasing the male mercenary from her grip - shoving him back slightly in the process - Cheshire stood her ground, staring defiantly up at Deathstroke. He leveled her with a glare, one she gladly returned.

When it became clear that Cheshire wasn't backing down, Deathstroke turned away from the team leader and back to his former proteges. They levelled him with the same ferocious look that Cheshire did, not knowing what her whispered words were but having some idea of the gist. The mercenary's good eye got a twinkle to it and his lips twitched upwards. "Alright. Well, the Light is waiting inside for all of you," Deathstroke looked at Cheshire as he continued to speak, "Let's hope you don't disappoint them."

Cheshire kept her cool, striding past the man with her chin tilted slightly upwards. Ravager and Terra followed behind, Red X taking up the caboose. Red X shot Deathstroke a look through his mask as he passed him, having a gut feeling that it wasn't over between Cheshire and the man. After all, this was Deathstroke, he never goes down without a fight.

Red X just hoped Cheshire knew what she was doing.

The Bialyan palace was as elegant and beautiful as its ruler was - but also as menacing and elusive. The ceilings were high and the walls lined with the finest art in the world, gold accents bringing a certain regality to the building.

It made Terra's heart twist in longing. She hadn't been in a palace since the night her uncle performed a coup and hired Deathstroke to kill her and her family. This whole scene - the setting, her companions, her purpose - was a slap to the face in her family's memory.

Shaking her head to rid her mind of the reminders, Terra steeled her jaw and clenched her fists as she kept pace with Ravager a few paces behind Cheshire.

It took only a few moments to find their way to the throne room but it felt like two eternities. Deathstroke took his place in front of Cheshire, opening the door to the throne room and ushering the teens in before him. They followed the cat themed assassin as she slipped her mask back on and confidently strode into the room, not flinching when she saw the full force of the Light, just continuing on her way to Ra's al Ghul. Once in front of him, she kneeled in a practiced manner, bowing her head respectfully.

"Master."

The three younger Heathens got the memo and bowed as well, following their leader in addressing the Demon's Head.

Ra's flicked his wrist. "Stand up. Today you come to us as valuable assets."

"That status has yet to be determined." Mused Queen Bee, eyeing the four teens distastefully. Her gaze landed on Cheshire. "Where is your sister? We demanded the full team, Ms. Nguyen."

Cheshire shifted ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. "Tigress has a mission with the young Justice Leaguers. In fact, they'll be in your backyard momentarily. I figured keeping her cover was more important to the overall mission, my Queen."

Only the Heathens caught on to the slight mock to Cheshire's tone when addressing the monarch and they had to bite their tongues to stifle their laughter.

Red X's worries about Cheshire dulled. She was good, she knew what she was doing.

Terra felt a swell of emotion inside her chest and she bit harder on her tongue to prevent from showing those emotions. Her birth family may be slaughtered, but she could sense a new one forming between this ragtag group of teens.

The teens were pulled from their thoughts as the Light addressed them once more.

Ra's looked at the teens before him with an indifferent expression on his ancient face. "Cheshire, your team has impressed us - "

"Most of us." Ocean Master muttered, eyeing the teens with a sneer.

Ignoring his colleague's comment, Ra's continued onwards. " - by acquiring the molecular fragmenter from STAR labs. That was, admittedly, not an easy task. Especially with the interference of the young brats. Good job."

"Yes, indeed, retrieving the fragmenter has benefited us greatly. However, your team did fail your first mission of...taking care of Dr. Roquette." Vandal Savage hummed.

"The newness of the team and the unfamiliarity of one another can be taken into account for the failure, though." Klarion added, side eyeing Savage.

"Can it, though? Three of the five members practically grew up together. And the remaining two did grow up together. So are they really that unfamiliar with one another?" Lex Luthor smirked, watching as the Heathens tensed slightly before relaxing their postures.

Cheshire narrowed her eyes at the bald man, glad her mask hid her expression. She cleared her throat. "If I may speak," Not waiting on permission from anyone, the cat themed assassin continued, "We are now vastly closer to one another than we were months ago when this team first formed. We know our enemies. We know each other. We...trust each other. Any mission given to us now will go infinitely better than our first one."

Queen Bee rolled her eyes. "Two of your members threatened to maim or murder another one just this very morning, Cheshire."

Ravager bristled at that. "You have our place bugged?!"

"Rose." Cheshire hissed lowly, giving the mercenary a look that meant 'cool it'.

The white haired teen inhaled sharply, once more biting her tongue. She didn't know which was worse - the fact that they were being watched for months or that Cheshire seemingly knew about it and didn't tell them.

When they were done with this...whatever it was, Ravager was going to have a talk with Cheshire.

The adults watched the two teens' short interaction, analyzing every micro movement and gesture. Ra's frowned, glancing at his fellow Light members from the corner of his eyes. He sighed quietly, stepping towards the Heathens. "The reason for this encounter was to debate your usefulness and whether we shall continue to utilize your capabilities further. That, and to test your mettle."

Before any of the teens had a chance to question what Ra's meant they fell to their knees, clutching their heads as painful headaches took over their brains. The last thing any of them saw were the indifferent faces of the Light and a shadowy figure standing behind them.