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A hand gripped Lois’s shoulder, trying to shake her awake. “You really can’t publish this.” Lois had no idea how she knew this woman’s voice, but she was sure she’d heard it before.
“Who are you?” Lois blinked. The woman was almost ethereally beautiful, between her flawless brown skin, slightly-wavy black hair, and eyes like the space between stars. This wouldn’t be Lois’s first encounter with magic, but somehow, she had a feeling that the figure in front of her was mostly, if not entirely, human. “Why are you in my apartment?”
Talia sighed. “I am Talia Al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul, who is the head of the League of Assassins. I am in your apartment because you seem to wish to put a target on your back.”
“Ma’am,” Lois frowned, “I’m an investigative journalist. This is what I do.”
“Regardless, what you have written paints my father in an extremely negative light. The assassins who agreed to be interviewed are newer, with lower levels of clearance, and thus are missing vital pieces of information that would have helped to inform your conclusions.”
“Mhm.” Lois crossed her arms. “Such as?”
“What you describe is connected to Lazarus and the League of Shadows in ways that I can’t explain on the record. Just knowing would put you in danger even if you do nothing with the information.” Talia let out a half-sigh. “But if you publish this, the League of Shadows will see that you’re investigating things close to them, and they will think you’re catching onto them. They will send a hit on you, and it will end with your death.”
“Yikes,” Lois winced. “But I’d be a pretty shit journalist if I just let that stop me, wouldn’t I? The dangerous stories are the ones that need to get investigated the most.”
From the way Talia was staring, Lois thought maybe she didn’t really get the whole journalism thing. “You aren’t wrong,” she began, “but that won’t save you. Why is this story so important? The League has existed for years. It will continue to exist for the foreseeable future.”
“You’re the one who just told me about how this is part of some interconnected conspiracy, aren’t you?”
“I— maybe. But why did you even decide to write this in the first place?”
“Usually, there aren’t any assassins in Metropolis. I wanted to know what was going on. I didn’t think—” Lois stopped herself. “It’s not important. I thought this would be a surface level piece. Now that I know there’s more going on, that gives me every reason to continue following it.” Her eyes met Talia’s, both women’s gazes matching the other in urgency and intensity. “I’m publishing the article. You can help me revise it, you can help me find more information, but I’m going to publish something on this, no matter what you think. If you’re so concerned, you can help me out. If you’re just here to try and save face for the League, get out.”
“You’re going to keep investigating?” Talia asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Of course I am,” Lois laughed. “You just told me that there’s a huge story here. Don’t you want to follow it? Don’t you want to see this through?”
Normally, Talia wouldn’t do a ‘team up’ with a journalist. She hadn’t come here to be civil, only to try and prevent the drama within the league that the article could spark. But now that Lois was asking about it, showing curiosity… Ra’s didn’t tell Talia everything. She wanted to know more. The League of Shadows was separate from the League of Assassins, but they had a shared history, one that was partially secret even from Talia herself. Knowing what had happened would be a step towards knowing how to deal with them. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“Fine.” Talia held out a hand as an offering. “Can you hold your own in a fight?”
“I can keep myself alive.”
“So you need further training to win? ”
Lois grinned. “If you’re offering to give me personal lessons from an epic assassin lady, I won’t say no.”
Blood rushed to Talia’s cheeks. Was that— No. No flirting on the job. She had a mission. “What you want to do is going to get you into a fight. It’d be irresponsible for me to not make sure you won’t die halfway through.”
When Lois’s hand shook Talia’s, it sent sparks up her arm. Talia was just going to. Ignore whatever feelings were going on there. “Okay, so,” Lois grabbed her laptop, “where do we start?”
