I don't own anything except my original/own characters and my original plot.

Comment if you like quotes or descriptions for the beginning better.

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Chapter 21 - Death

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4 months earlier - Night of (Y/n)'s leave

"AND THEN SUDDENLY , FOR NO APPEARENT REASON EVERYTHING STARTED TO FALL APART TOO QUICKLY TO FIX."

"She's gone," Wally reported sadly, speeding back to the team, "She isn't anywhere in the cave."

"Where did she go?" Artemis whispered to herself.

"This is my fault," Wally ran a hand through his hair, "I never should have yelled at her I should have...I should have listened, I should have helped!"

Wally slammed his fist down on the counter, causing a glass of untouched water to shake.

"Let's look through her room," Robin suggested, "Maybe she left behind some hint of where she went."

The team nodded silently, pushing themselves off of the walls and counters they were leaning on to take the short walk through the halls to the room that was (Y/n)'s.

The first thing they saw when they entered her room was splintered remains and ripped photos.

"This is her music box," Wally reported, picking up one of the wood pieces.

"ALICE, did you see anything?" M'gann asked after a few minutes of fruitless searching of her room. Besides the photos and the music box, there was nothing. The room remained silent, the AI not responding, "ALICE?"

"She's been deactivated," Robin mumbled, pulling her control panel off of the wall, "(Y/n) took every precaution."

"Hey Wally, didn't you get her more figurines than this?" Conner questioned, pointing at the figurines sitting on the dresser, there was one missing from the middle of the neat line.

"Yeah," Wally mumbled, "The London Eye."

"Why would she only take that one?" Kaldur wondered.

"Because it's where we..." Wally trailed off, swallowing loudly, "It was an important place."

"The things she bought from the trip are gone too," Artemis spoke up, breaking the silence, "Those are the only clothes that are."

"She's really gone," Wally sighed.

"We need to call in the league," Kaldur pointed out.

The team nodded solemnly, agreeing with their leader. Wally seemed hesitant, holding onto the hope that she just left to blow off some steam, and the things missing were just misplaced. But he knew, that she wasn't coming back.

4 Months Later

"Team, report to the briefing room." Batman ordered from over the speakers.

The team - already in uniform thanks to a recently finished mission - shared silent looks before walking to the briefing room. Batman never gave them missions this close together, they barely even got missions on a weekly basis unless the villains were planning something big, but their activity had been little to none lately.

"Another mission Batman" Kaldur asked as they lined up in front of the hero.

"No," Batman pointed to the screen, a picture of a man popped up.

He was young, mid to late twenties, judging by how pale his skin was he wasn't alive. The picture zoomed out more so they could see the entire body. There was no gunshot wound, no stab wound, nothing anywhere on the body to suggest he was murdered.

"This is Jasper Lewis, a government worker that frequently worked against villains. He was found in his home yesterday, dead. He was in perfect health, and showed no signs of depression. There was nothing in his system that could have killed him."

"Do you think one of the villains did it?" Artemis questioned, crossing her arms.

"Perhaps," Batman changed the picture, showing a rose on the chest of the victim. "The observers noticed two things off about the body, one was that there was a rose laying on Lewis' chest and a prick on his finger from the rose. From how deep the prick was, someone pricked his finger after he died and placed the rose on him.

"The second thing they noticed, no matter what light he put them under, the man had no shadow."

"No shadow..." Robin repeated, "Bats, you don't think this is-"

"I think it is," Batman sighed, "After four months of no signs of her...I think she has come up again. As a villain this time."

"No, no!" Wally yelled in disbelief, "This can't be her. This has to be some other villain that can do that. She wouldn't...She can't be a villain."

"We have never encountered someone with powers of her nature before," Batman argued, "I didn't want to show you this, in hopes that this wouldn't happen, but on the night of her disappearance, we got a hit on facial recognition. Now we can assume who he was talking to."

Batman once again changed the image on the screen, this time it was a video that automatically began playing when it came up.

It showed (Y/n) landing in front of an alley, a small smile spread across her face as she readjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"Villains were always ones for dramatizing things," she said before entering the alley.

"It's nice to see that you showed," a tall man with black hair and red eyes stepped out of the shadows, he seemed familiar, "I thought I would have to kill those friends of yours."

"They aren't my friends," (Y/n) growled, all of us shared a shocked look,"Not anymore."

"Oh look at that," Klarion grinned, "You're learning already. No attachments, attachments mean weakness, weakness is not allowed, understand?"

The man stepped forward and slapped (Y/n), everything went silent before she turned back to him with wide eyes.

"That's for doubting your heritage," he hummed, "For not embracing my side of the family."

"Alright, I got punished," (Y/n) said calmly,"I'm ready to work for you, I guess."

"Oh no," the man shook his head with a laugh, "You aren't just going to start working for me first. I don't care how sure about this loyalty you are, it isn't good enough. I'm going to put you through...Let's call it conditioning, and trust me when I saw when I'm done with you, you will be a villain, and you'll be willing to do what I am to an innocent person."

The video ended, everything was silent for a minute before M'gann finally decided to speak up.

"Why didn't you show us this before?"

"We didn't have the information we needed, and we knew you would go out and search for her. We didn't know why she left or who she was speaking to at the time. We still don't but now, we know she is a villain."

"She's our enemy," Wally mumbled, his eyes becoming glassy.

"You lied to me (Y/n)," Robin whispered, his voice unable to be heard by anyone but perhaps Superboy, "You broke your promise, and you broke his heart."

4 MONTHS LATER.

Death. The end of something. The end of a life, of a chance, of a love.

(Y/n) walked down the dimly lit halls of the hidden compound, her heels clicking against the shining tile, creating an echo throughout the empty halls. They were bare, too bare for her liking, but she had gotten used to it.

Her once sparkling (E/c) eyes were duller, a small spark was the only left of a once raging fire. She had grown, as much as a sixteen-year-old could within nearly two-thirds of a year.

She was a few inches taller, without the heels. Her figure was more developed, her (H/c) hair was longer, and her (S/t) skin was more pale from lack of sunlight in the compound. She looked, in every way, like a woman, despite her young age.

She reached out a hand, freshly manicured nails - for her latest mission - brushing against the metal of a door. Walking inside, she straightened her posture and face her father.

"The mission was successful," she spoke monotonously, "Jasper Lewis is dead, no evidence, no witnesses. Only the black rose."

"Perfect," Klarion grinned maliciously, "Jasper Lewis was a test you passed. Undercover work suits you. Good job... Black Rose."

"Thank you Father," she bowed her head.

"You're dismissed."

(Y/n) left the room without saying another word. As the girl left Vandal Savage - who was standing next to Klarion silently - spoke up.

"You had a chance to kill the brats before she came to us, why didn't you and then recruit her when she was weak with grief?"

"Because it wasn't going to work," Klarion spoke simply, "It would have worked on the humans, but the ones with different blood weren't likely to be affected. The green one's blood could change at will, and Lex made the Super Jr., he can handle him, the meta human had super healing, there was no guarantee that the serum could destroy his cells fast enough."

"So why-"

"Because she needed to want to come with me. If she didn't there would be that rebellion, one that even conditioning wouldn't guarantee a fix of. Telling her that made her stressed, and look here that got us. She came to me wanting to be a villain."

(Y/n) walked through two identical hallways from the area she was just in. The hallway she was in now was a bit more lively than the plain ones. This was the 'quarters' hall. When villains were going to stay for long periods of time - for meetings usually - they stayed here.

Several of the doors had personalized nameplates and looks to them. Harley's was splattered with red and black paint. Ivy's had vines and flowers on it. Joker had red paint spelling out 'Hahaha' and 'Why so serious' across his door.

(Y/n) walked up to her door. Her name was printed in bold, black lettering. Black roses were painted from the bottom corners and sides to the top of the door. Ivy had made it for her, beaming with pride when she hung it up. The villain's little girl had come back to them, more than willing to join the 'family' business.

She let out a sigh, running a hand through her hair. She walked into her room, turning on the light when she entered. Her room had three black walls, with one deep red one. Her bed had was grey, her floor white, and her dresser a dark brown. A few panels behind her bed were her lights, instead of ceiling ones.

She lifted up her foot, pulling off one of her boots and dropping it to the floor, doing the same with the other. Kicking her shoes to the side she walked through her room to her bathroom, ready to take a shower and wash the smell of death off of her body.

~*~

After her shower she walked into her room once again, feeling refreshed. Stopping at her dresser she glanced at the top, where her London Eye Figurine sat.

"Society only accepts those that conform to their ideals. Everyone only accepts those who conform to their ideals." She mumbled to herself calmly, "It was never going to last. This is who you're destined to be. You can't change that, Wally never accepted you. You were born to be in the shadows. To be a black rose."

Despite her beauty and how well she comes off as a good, innocent thing, she had thorns. Thorns that overcome the beauty, and make her dangerous.

4 months earlier - Night of (Y/n)'s leave

"AND THEN SUDDENLY, FOR NO APPARENT REASON EVERYTHING STARTED TO FALL APART TOO QUICKLY TO FIX."

"She's gone," Wally reported sadly, speeding back to the team, "She isn't anywhere in the cave."

"Where did she go?" Artemis whispered to herself, hiding her panic better than the others.

"This is my fault," Wally ran a hand through his hair, "I never should have yelled at her I should have... I should have listened, I should have helped!"

Wally slammed his fist down on the counter, causing a glass of untouched water to shake. M'gann had set it out after Wally took his third lap around the cave, insisting he stay hydrated.

"Let's look through her room," Robin suggested, "Maybe she left behind some hint of where she went, a clue."

The team nodded silently, pushing themselves off of the walls and counters they were leaning on to take the short walk through the halls to the room that was (Y/n)'s.

The first thing they saw when they entered her room was splintered remains and ripped photos. The team gasped in shock. It was such a violent scene that for a split second; they shared the same thought that she was kidnapped.

"This is her music box," Wally reported, picking up one of the wood pieces.

"ALICE, did you see anything?" M'gann asked after a few minutes of fruitless searching of her room. Besides the photos and the music box, there was nothing. The room remained silent, the AI not responding, "ALICE?"

"She's been deactivated," Robin mumbled, pulling her control panel off of the wall, "(Y/n) took every precaution."

"Hey Wally, didn't you get her more figurines than this?" Conner questioned, pointing at the figurines sitting on the dresser, there was one missing from the middle of the neat line.

"Yeah," Wally mumbled, looking them over, "The London Eye."

"Why would she only take that one?" Kaldur wondered.

"Because it's where we..." Wally trailed off, swallowing loudly, "It was an important place."

"The things she bought from the trip are gone too," Artemis spoke up, breaking the silence, "Those are the only clothes that are. Probably because there's weren't trackers on them, they were new."

"She's really gone," Wally sighed, running a hand through his tousled hair.

"We need to call in the league," Kaldur pointed out.

The team nodded solemnly, agreeing with their leader. Wally seemed hesitant, holding onto the hope that she just left to blow off some steam, and the things missing were just misplaced. But he knew, that she wasn't coming back.

4 Months Later

"Team, report to the briefing room." Batman ordered from over the speakers.

The team - already in uniform thanks to a recently finished mission - shared silent looks before walking to the briefing room. Batman never gave them missions this close together, they barely even got missions on a weekly basis unless the villains were planning something big, but their activity had been little to none lately.

"Another mission Batman?" Kaldur asked as they lined up in front of the hero.

"No," Batman pointed to the screen, a picture of a man popped up.

He was young, mid to late twenties, judging by how pale his skin was he wasn't alive. The picture zoomed out more so they could see the entire body. There was no gunshot wound, no stab wound, nothing anywhere on the body to suggest he was murdered.

"This is Jasper Lewis, a government worker that frequently worked against villains. He was found in his home yesterday, dead. He was in perfect health and showed no signs of depression. There was nothing in his system that could have killed him."

"Do you think one of the villains did it?" Artemis questioned, crossing her arms.

"Perhaps," Batman changed the picture, showing a rose on the chest of the victim. "The observers noticed two things off about the body, one was that there was a rose laying on Lewis' chest and a prick on his finger from the rose. From how deep the prick was, someone pricked his finger after he died and placed the rose on him. The second thing they noticed, no matter what light he put them under, the man had no shadow."

"No shadow..." Robin repeated, eyes widening, "Bats, you don't think this is-"

"I think it is," Batman sighed, "After four months of no signs of her... I think she has come up again. As a villain this time."

"No way!" Wally yelled in disbelief, "This can't be her. This has to be some other villain that can do that. She wouldn't... She can't be a villain."

"We have never encountered someone with powers of her nature before," Batman argued, "I didn't want to show you this, in hopes that this wouldn't happen, but on the night of her disappearance, we got a hit on facial recognition. Now we can assume who he was talking to."

Batman once again changed the image on the screen, this time it was a video that automatically began playing when it came up. It showed (Y/n) landing in front of an alley, a small smile spread across her face as she readjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"Villains were always ones for dramatizing things," she said before entering the alley.

"It's nice to see that you showed," a tall man with black hair and red eyes stepped out of the shadows, he seemed familiar, "I thought I would have to kill those friends of yours."

"They aren't my friends," (Y/n) mumbled, all of us shared a shocked look, "Not anymore."

"Oh look at that," the man grinned, "You're learning already. No attachments, attachments mean weakness, weakness is not allowed, understand?"

The man stepped forward and slapped (Y/n), everything went silent before she turned back to him with wide eyes.

"That's for doubting your heritage," he hummed, "For not embracing my side of the family."

"Alright, I got punished," (Y/n) said calmly, "I'm ready to work for you, I guess."

"Oh no," the man shook his head with a laugh, "You aren't just going to start working for me first. I don't care how sure about this loyalty you are, it isn't good enough. I'm going to put you through... Let's call it conditioning, and trust me when I saw when I'm done with you, you will be a villain, and you'll be willing to do what I am to an innocent person."

(Y/n) walked further into the alley, out of view of the camera. The man, whoever he was, looked right into the lense, smirking widely.

"I win, heroes. I'll always win."

The video ended, everything was silent for a minute before M'gann finally decided to speak up.

"Why didn't you show us this before?"

"We didn't have the information we needed, and we knew you would go out and search for her. We didn't know why she left or who she was speaking to at the time. We still don't. But now, we know she is a villain."

"She's our enemy," Wally mumbled, his eyes becoming glassy, distant.

The team was struck silent in their shocked grief. Batman allowed them their time to process the situation, standing and staring in silence.

"You lied to me (Y/n)," Robin whispered, his voice unable to be heard by anyone but perhaps Superboy, "You broke your promise, and you broke his heart."