I was still shaking and in shock from what had just occurred. My mind was blank and numb and I felt disconnected from everything. Disconnected from the world.

I couldn't even hear the blaring music anymore or the cheers and laughter from the people around me. Everything just stopped, like I was frozen in time, and all I could think about was that I had to get out of here. I had to get far, far, away from here.

Moving toward the elevator I pressed the button for the ground floor and slid down the side of the wall until I was curled up into a ball. My head fell forward and I wrapped my hands around my legs, allowing my tears to fall.

I'm such an idiot. I'm such an idiot.

When I eventually reached the ground floor I managed to compose myself enough to exit the lift. I was in the foyer of the penthouse, with beautiful marble pillars surrounding me and exquisitely carved sculptures and statues beside them.

Two bodyguards stood at the doorway where the red carpet lead up to, and two more stood in the far corners of the foyer. I wiped at my tear-stained face and proceeded to walk past them, but it was no use, because they noticed me immediately.

"Miss Sasha, I'm afraid we cannot allow you to leave un-escorted," one of them spoke up, placing a firm hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me," I mumbled, shrugging him off as a feeling of anger and irritation swelled in my gut.

But of course the guards could not let me go anywhere. Not with Slade out to get me, and not with me being under the care of billionaire Bruce Wayne.

"Just take a seat, Miss Sasha," the guard told me, gesturing to the surrounding lounge chairs. "We'll organize a safe ride back to Wayne Manor for you."

I reluctantly moved to the luxurious couches to my right and sunk down into the cushions. I wasn't in the right mindset to fight them on this. I just wanted to leave, wanted to get far away from everyone in this building.

The two guards walked off toward the reception desk, which happened to be out of view. That gave me a bit of privacy, at least, and I took the opportunity to place my purse on my lap and pull out the gift I'd intended on giving Damian.

I unraveled the tissue paper until I reached the little white box. I felt a lump forming in my throat as I stared it, unsure if I could even bare to open to it in my current state.

Hesitantly, though, I did, and my eyes rested on the beautiful 24-karat gold ring that I held before me.

I had gotten two words inscribed into it for him; ملاكي الظلام, or malaki alzalam.

It meant my dark angel in arabic.

Even looking at those words made me want to burst out crying again.

But something flickered in the corner of my eye, breaking me from my thoughts. The wall to my left was made of five big window panels, displaying a wall-length view of the gardens and streets outside. Since it was late and very dark, I wasn't sure if I'd just seen my reflection, or an animal scuttling past.

Another movement, and suddenly it was there again. Something black had jumped into the bushes, I was sure of it.

Something human.

My fingers tightened against the box in my hand and I flipped the lid shut, shielding the ring from any potential dangers as I moved to the window panels to get a closer look.

A thumping noise rung out from somewhere behind me. I was familiar with the sound: it was Like someone getting hit in the head by a weapon.

I considered going to find the guards, or even Bruce and the boys, but after my encounter with Damian, that didn't sound like such a good idea anymore.

Then suddenly, the sound of breaking glass.

Shit.

I dropped the ring and leapt up from the couch. I ran toward the area where the guards had gone, skidding to a stop beside the reception desk. However what I saw next knocked the air out of my lungs, and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from making a sound.

The guards laid dead in front of me, blood seeping from their bodies and staining the marble floor.

But I had no time to react, because suddenly I saw a black figure sprawled across the floor about 50 feet in front of me, clutching their leg as shards of glass lay littered around them.

As they started to get up, I didn't need to think twice before reaching toward one of the guard's belts and snatching up his gun in the speed of two seconds.

Come on, Sasha, time to whip out those old assassin skills of yours.

Only now the figure saw me, ducked mere seconds before I pulled the trigger, and as the gunshot rung out, the bullet ended up lodging itself directly into the eyes of a second approaching person.

Wait, there's two of them now?

I had no time to process this, because as that person fell to the floor dead, the first one lunged at me and knocked me to the ground.

I thought they were hurting me and prepared to attack. But then, a series of shurikens flew at lightning speed toward the area I'd just been standing, lodging themselves into the wall.

I was beyond confused.

This person just saved me...

"Move," they told me, and it was a male voice talking.

I rolled away and scrambled to my feet in an instant, my savior hot on my heels. We sprinted down the marble hallways and he lead me down a random corridor until we came across one of Bruce's exotic display rooms, where there was not only a variety of ancient weapons for us to to use, but a back door for escape.

My savior snatched up a random machete and twirled it in his wrist while I instinctively grabbed a katana. Two assassin figures entered the gym instantly after us. They were tall and clearly male, sporting black robes that were unfamiliar to anything I'd seen before. They wore bandannas that masked their mouths and noses, so I couldn't recognize their faces even if I did know them.

What the fuck were they doing here? And why was there a random, evidently smaller ninja protecting me?

My savior swung the machete expertly at the first assassins face, who dodged the attack and the next following swipes from the blade.

The second assassin lunged at me with a fast roundhouse kick. I threw up my arms just in time to block it, the force sending me back a good ten feet or so.

I ducked and weaved around his following martial arts moves, then managed to slice through his shirt with my katana. It drew blood and the assassin faltered slightly, giving me time to drop and swing my leg around, knocking him down.

I jumped back up and twirled the katana in my hand so that it was facing downward. I stabbed him in the shoulder, sent my left boot to his stomach and my right one to his foot.

Beside me, the mystery guy had thrown the other assassin over his hip and into the wall, before impaling him right in the heart. Blood gushed out as the machete was ripped from the wound, and the assassin began to choke on the crimson liquid in his mouth.

Impressive. But unnecessarily violent, if I was being honest.

Suddenly a hand clamped around my ankle and tugged me to the floor. My opponent attempted to get on top of me but I used the momentum of my fall to roll us until I was back on top, hooking my legs around his neck so that I straddled him in a choke hold.

Then I grabbed the nearest weapon on the shelf beside me, which happened to be a small knife, and stabbed him right in the eye. He screamed in agony, however the cries died down when he passed out from pain.

I sat there, my chest still heaving. The mystery guy dropped his machete to the floor with a cloud clatter.

"Is that all of them?" I panted, yanking the knife out of the bloody eye.

The guy looked puffed, too, but he nodded.

"For now."

And all of a sudden, he ripped the hood from his head and the cloth from his face, revealing a sharp jaw, a bed of dirty-blond hair, and brown eyes.

"Not bad, Blondie," Flynn Owens said, eyeing the carnage around me. "Not bad at all."

I dropped the knife out of shock.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

He shook his head, refusing to answer the question. "It doesn't matter. What's matters is that more of these guys are coming. I need to get you out of here, now."

He suddenly moved to my side, grabbing my arm to lift me up.

I pulled away instantly. "What? What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere."

He rolled his eyes and continued to pull at my stubborn body anyway.

"Sasha, just get up. We don't have time for this."

What the hell did he want? This was so confusing. Flynn has somehow managed to escape from the League of Assassins and was inside the manor, trying to make me go somewhere with him after we'd just fought a bunch of random ninjas.

"Flynn, tell me what the fuck is going on right now," I demanded, getting to my feet and pushing him off me.

He narrowed his eyes in irritation.

"You know what? Fine. Here's what's going on: your psycho dad got out of Nanda Parbat, and he's after you. These were his first batch of minions and more are coming. So, I don't know about you, but I don't wanna stick around and find out what happens when they get here."

He grasped my wrist and yanked me toward him, his dull eyes inches from mine. "So let's go."

But before I could even process what the hell he was talking about, a sharp pain shot through my side. It seized my entire body and suddenly I lurched froward, my stomach flipping.

I would've landed on my knees if not for Flynn, who caught me mid-air.

"Shit," I whispered, glancing down at the bloodied stab wound in my ribs. The adrenaline had obviously concealed my pain while I'd been fighting, however now it had worn off.

Flynn let out the worlds most dramatic groan. "Are you kidding me right now?"

He shook his head and muttered something that involved a lot of curse words, hoisting me into his arms so that he was carrying me bridal style.

I was so in shock that all I could do was press my hands against my bleeding wound as Flynn carried me out of the back door and into the garden.

"This is what I get for trying to be the fucking good guy..."

---------------------------------

We ended up in an apartment or some sort. Flynn had called some of his Midnight assassin friends to pick us up, kids I vaguely remembered working with back in the day, but was too out of it to properly recall.

I had so many questions regarding Slade and why he was after me, but my main concern was stemming the bleeding on my rib cage and trying not to pass out. I didn't trust a flynn enough to know what he would do to me if I did.

The apartment was cheap and temporary, situated somewhere in downtown gotham under a fake name. The other Midnight assassins were scattered around the complex, too, and it seemed that they'd all developed some sort of family-like relationship with each-other. That, or they were just deadset on sticking together.

When we entered the room, Flynn rested me on my feet after I insisted on walking over to the kitchen table myself.

"Where's your first aid kit," I mumbled, grasping onto the stools for support.

He pulled out a bottle of vodka and a small roll of bandages, sending me that classic smirk of his.

"This is my first aid kit."

Oh, lord.

"You can't be serious," I said, but by now I had zero strength left in my body and was seconds away from collapsing to the ground.

Flynn realized I wouldn't be able to get up and there and sat me down on the little sofa instead.

"Oh, I'm serious alright," he grinned delightedly. "Now dress off, Blondie."

The realization that he'd be seeing me in my underwear suddenly took over me. No, no, no, this is not happening.

I offered a weak, sarcastic laugh. "On second thought, I think I'll just bleed out."

But I could feel my vision turning blurry, and my stomach was churning with nausea and agony.

I can't die. Not yet, anyway. Not after how I left things with Damian...

Flynn had wet a random piece of cloth and was dowsing it with vodka over the sink. "You have five seconds to take it off before I do it for you," he ordered, not even looking up at me once.

It's fine, it's not like he would ever be attracted to me. We hate each others guts, I tried to tell myself.

But I was still reluctant to undress in front of my number one bully. Well, maybe number two, seeing as Slade held the top positon. And it didn't help that Flynn was... well, attractive.

He moved toward me, holding the makeshift disinfectant and faking a look of offense.

"I'm insulted. How long have we known eachother, blondie? I thought we were closer then this."

I just rolled my eyes at his mockery. "Whatever, asshole. Keep your hands off of me."

But at that moment another shot of pain soared up my side and I let out an involuntary groan.

Okay, so maybe I can compromise just this once.

I was too weak to move my arms so Flynn ripped the fabric down the middle with his bare hands, careful not to touch the wound.

He threw my destroyed dress to the floor, and I stared at it longingly, because it was still a designer one that had been an expensive $500.

Flynn's brows raised in surprise as he looked at me. "Shit, you were hiding all that under there this whole time?"

I would've jabbed him in the throat if it weren't for the huge stab wound in the middle of my ribcage.

"I'm literally going to kill you," I muttered instead.

Flynn was still staring at my body, but snapped himself out of it quickly. He had to move the band of my black lace bralette that I was wearing in order to fully clean my wound, which was earning hisses of pain from me.

"What is that, acid?" I snapped.

He laughed humorlessly. "It's vodka, genius. You've had worse."

Fortunately he mangaged to work quickly and get the cleaning process over with, thank god.

"Can you stand?" He questioned, preparing the bandages for wrapping.

I nodded, but the second I moved, I stumbled forward, my body feeling like it was made of heavy lead.

Flynn caught me again and had to reposition me on the sofa so that my lolling frame would be supported.

"If you fucking pass out on me..." he groaned, beginning to apply the bandages just below my bra. "I'm serious, Blondie, you're way too heavy to carry. What have they been feeding you?"

That earned a growl from me, even in my half-conscious state.

"Shut up, you prick."

He flashed those perfect teeth again. "Oh, perfect, you're back."

I felt myself slipping out of consciousness, but suddenly Flynn had shoved the vodka into my hand, a knowing look in his eyes.

"Drink," he said, and for some reason I listened to him.

The liquid slid down my throat like a blast of hot fire, burning my esophagus. I almost coughed it all back up. I didn't know how people could drink that shit straight, it was horrible.

But at the same time, the intensity of it had jolted me awake again. I was no longer drifting off into darkness.

"Somehow, that worked," I muttered, and moved forward so that Flynn could properly spin the bandages around my torso.

Flynn finished up rather quickly and grabbed the vodka bottle, taking a long, large swig. I just watched him with wide eyes, wondering how on earth he could stomach that stuff.

He slammed it down on the counter top, then noticed my staring. "What?"

I just shook my head in disappointment.

He took a step back to observe his work, eyes sliding over my bandages and probably other parts of my body, too.

"Better now?" He questioned.

I simply nodded, although of course the wound in my side was still throbbing.

"Good," Flynn moved toward his duffel bag and pulled out a random blue t-shirt. "From what I saw, it was only a flesh wound, anyway. You'll live."

He tossed the shirt in my direction and I grabbed it in mild confusion.

"What's this?"

He rolled his eyes at me like I was stupid.

"Put it on, dumbass. This is weird enough as it is."

Yeah, you could say that again.

I managed to painfully pull the shirt over my head and felt relieved now that I was mostly covered. It was big and oversized, making me feel more comfortable and relaxed. The fact that it smelt like Flynn in an oddly nice way was also confusing me.

But then I remembered something.

"What about pants...?"

Flynn zipped up his duffel and kicked it under the small kitchen table.

"Sorry, limited supply," he responded with a grin.

I scoffed.

"Right, this has nothing to do with wanting me half naked on your bed."

Flynn feigned shock, placing his hand to his chest.

"Blondie, how dare you assume such vulgar intentions?"

I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at that. I had to admit, Flynn had always been funny. Even back at Midnight he'd managed to take some of the seriousness out of our very deadly jobs.

Flynn moved towards me and slid his arms under my legs and back, lifting me of the sofa. His body was warm as I ended up pressed against him, one hand on my wound and the other around his neck.

It was weird. We were being oddly intimate right now, for the first time in my life. Flynn of all people was trying to look after me, was trying to protect me from my father.

This was so confusing.

He set me down carefully on the bed. "You're going to rest, and when you wake up, everything is going to be magically healed up, okay?"

I squinted at him in confusion. "I don't think that's how this works..."

But he just started pulling off my heels, his jaw clenched. "Well, you're gonna have to hope that it is. Now is not the time to be injured."

Well that's just perfect.

"Why are you here, Flynn? Why are you doing this for me?" I sighed.

He looked away from me, standing very still by the side of the bed. All of his light-heartedness seemed to vanish at that moment, and was replaced with stone-cold seriousness.

"I was at the League for a while," he began blankly. "We all were, the rest of the Midnight kids. Talia was using us as her free army. I hated it there, so I planned an escape. If we all teamed up against her we could do it."

Then he glanced at me, his eyes holding an u familiar look of shame in them.

"I... I broke your dad out of his cell..." he spoke hesitantly. "It was stupid, I know, but at the time, it was all we had. I knew the others would listen to him if he lead them. He gave them hope, and it was that hope that managed to get us out in one piece."

A mixture of confusion and shock filled my brain as I tried to process his words.

"I don't understand," I said. "If you're on my father's side, why are you trying to protect me from him?"

That was when Flynn shook his head.

"Thats the thing... I'm not. At least, not anymore. The whole reason I broke him out was so that he could lead us back to Gotham, but it turned out he had no interest in that. All he cared about was getting you back. Talia told him something and he was deadset on dealing with it. There was no convincing him otherwise, so I grabbed some of the Midnight kids and took off."

A sense of panic filled my stomach and I propped myself up into a sitting stance.

"What did Talia tell him, Flynn?"

He wouldn't look at me, eyes clenching shut like what he was about to say was too painful.

"You're not going to like this, Sasha..."

But I swallowed hard, determined to hear it.

"Tell me."

Flynn sighed deeply.

"Your aunt, Polina, was alive in Gotham... She knew the whereabouts of your mother, who was hiding up in Russia. Slade wanted to... he wanted to use her to get you back, Sasha. He wanted her for blackmail."

I swear my heart stopped beating in my chest for a good five seconds.

He what?

"No," I said, nervous laughter escaping my lips. "No, no, you're lying. You're messing with me."

But Flynn stared me dead in the eyes, his face unmoving and his expression solemn.

My stomach dropped.

Oh, no, no, no, no....

"She's meant to be dead," I whispered, suddenly unable to speak. "She's meant to be dead. They're both meant to be dead. I saw it happen with my own eyes, five years ago...."

Now I was starting to freak out. Memories of my time in russia came flooding back to me. Memories of when Slade discovered my mother was hiding with her gang, and forced me to go undercover to find her. To draw her out.

To let him kill her.

"No, Sasha, she's alive," Flynn corrected me. "At least, for now. He got to Polina a few days ago. That's how he found her location."

Polina... I thought, recalling my few childhood memories with her.

"He... he killed her, didn't he?"

Flynn didn't say anything, but I knew what that meant. The lump in my throat was growing bigger and I couldn't swallow it. My heart was pounding at a million miles and hour and my palms were sweaty.

"All of this, all of this was because of me?" I asked, looking into Flynn's brown eyes.

The boy looked away again, a rare flash of guilt appearing on his face. It was an emotion that I'd never seen him express before.

Oh, fuck, what have I done? What have I caused?

I ran my hands through my curled hair, letting my fingers glide all the way along my scalp and through my roots. My entire body was rigid with stress and I felt the sudden urge to just rip out a large chunk of my hair.

Luckily, I managed to control myself, and forced my lungs to inhale deep breaths of air.

"Look, I know it all seems hopeless, but I've got a plan," Flynn tried to comfort me, clearly sensing my distress. "We can talk about it in the morning, okay? You need to rest."

I was reluctant to comply, my mind still racing with this new dose of information. I was so confused, so angry, and so upset. How could this be happening to me? It seemed that only a few hours ago I was enjoying myself at a party, and now here I was, finding out that my psycho dad had kidnapped my mother to blackmail me.

But I took another deep breath and slowly started to rest my head against the pillow of the bed. I knew I had to heal, and staying awake all night thinking about what I could've done different wasn't going to help me.

Flynn seemed to understand that I was done with the conversation. "I'll keep watch," he announced, lifting himself up and moving toward the sofa.

Once he sat down, he pulled out a very deadly looking dagger and began to sharpen it quietly, which was a strangely comforting sound to listen to.

"Thank you, Flynn," I whispered, earning a surprised look from the boy.

He gave me one firm nod in reply, and I smiled slightly, feeling a fraction of peace for the first time that night.

okay, i'm not saying i don't ship Dasha anymore, but like... 😳

what do y'all think of these two? i told u the redemption arc was coming! and yes, ur welcome for this little triple spam of chapters btw. don't expect this to happen all the time because i know it won't so please enjoy <3

oh, and thats flynn pictured above ;)