The Gotham Docklands were one of the more eerily quiet parts of the city...as a mainly abandoned section of Gotham, it was a pretty common meeting place for drug deals and gang meetings.
And in the case of the infamous assassin Copperhead AKA Larissa Diaz, the warehouse she was currently situated in was a good hideout to store her various poison-laced weapons.
Until Black Canary and Spoiler burst through the wood planks covering one of the broken windows, their blonde curtains of hair swinging wildly behind their costumed figures.
"Qué Carajo?!? How did--?" Larissa's dark eyes were only surprised for a moment before her gaze flickered back to one of her tables, where her various poison-tipped arsenal was placed; the next moment she dove towards the table, scrambling to put on her poison-tipped gloves. "Doesn't matter. You're gonna be pájaras muertas either way!"
"No!" Exclaimed Stephanie, rushing forward to intercept her without thinking.
"Wait!" Dinah was right behind her, narrowly tugging on Stephanie's purple cape and yanking the younger woman back right at the last minute. Larissa had her venom-laced talons equipped in less than a minute, making a vicious swipe at Stephenie and missing her stunned face by a couple millimeters.
"Whoa!"
Dinah advanced on the snake-themed assassin, uppercutting and sending her back before she could even react. She turned back and gave the mortified Stephanie a soft, yet stern glance. "I'm glad you and Huntress wear capes so I can do that anytime I'm on a mission with either of you."
Larissa recovered quickly, flashing her glistening claws menacingly as she growled, "See this, chica? It's my newest batch, got it straight from the source: a Terciopelo viper. I heard it's very good at its job; it causes instant tissue death. I was gonna test it out on some ratas, but you pendejas will do!" Then, she leapt at Dinah, aiming her talons for the skilled combatant's face.
But before she could get the chance to test her new poison out, Stephanie swung her bo staff and shattered the lethal tips of Larissa's gloves. "Ay! Do you know how hard it took to get those! I'm gonna--oof!"
Stephanie slammed the blunt end of her staff into Larissa's stomach and shoved her back with a scoff. "I don't think so, snake breath!" She inspected the bright green slashes on her staff and cringed. "Damn it, I just got that bloodstain off this thing!"
Thoroughly declawed from her venom-laced talons, Dinah engaged Larissa in a brief but effective fisticuff, with the Latina Copperhead learning very quickly that despite her own impressive fight skills, she wasn't even close to being on Black Canary's level combat-wise. "Fuck this!"
The snakeskin leather-garbed contortionist then proceeded to narrowly avoid Dinah's next roundhouse kick--by unnaturally bending her spine back--and flipped past the older blonde towards her other poison-stocked table.
This time, Larissa didn't bother trying to replace her broken gloves: she simply began throwing whatever she could find on the table--poisoned darts, knives, even just the venom vials by themselves.
Dinah gave Stephanie a quick nod before declaring, "Let's end this." The fishnet-wearing siren then took cover by using the other table as a shield. At the same time, Stephanie diverted Larissa's attention by taking the assassin head-on, using her staff to deflect the poisoned sharp objects thrown at her, and threw her own weapon back: a smoke bomb.
The room immediately filled with foggy gas, though this didn't stop Larissa from charging at Stephanie, two bowie knives in both hands and dripping with snake venom. "That was a mista-!"
And right in that moment two things happened: the smoke cleared, and Black Canary leapt between them, a confident smirk on her face as she opened her mouth and let out her world-famous canary cry right into Larissa's stunned face.
SKREEEEE!!!
The impact of the supersonic wail caused the female Copperhead to fly backwards in the air, hitting the back wall of the warehouse and slumped over with a low groan.
"Why didn't you just start with that?" Stephanie grumbled as she quickly used one of her bat-ropes from her belt to tie up the recovering snake-themed criminal.
"I wanted to test out what you need to improve on in the field. So far, I've come to the conclusion to stop letting Huntress train you from now on. Plus, it's more fun to humble internationally infamous assassins like this one from time to time." Dinah replied cheerfully before crouching down to be at eye-level with Larissa, then snapped her fingers. "Okay, playtimes over, Copperhead. We already know who your target was in Gotham, what we want is the name of the guy who actually hired you for the job."
Larissa didn't answer at first, simply glaring silently at her and immaturely flicking out her forked tongue to hiss at Dinah, though she dropped the act when she heard the blonde clear her throat threateningly. "Okay, okay! Just give me a second to get my hearing back, my head's still ringing from your frickin' super scream!"
"You'll be fine. Who hired you?" Dinah repeated again.
"My client...paid me a fuckton of money to keep my mouth shut. But I might be flexible to that deal..." Larissa hissed again teasingly, "...Depending on how much you're willing to pay ME to snitch, puta."
"Okay, if we're going to do things this way, then-"
"Canary! Look at this." Stephanie had been inspecting Copperhead's venom supply as Dinah conducted her interrogation and recognized a insignia on one of the vial containers. "The Kobra Cult! That rogue Kobra agent you caught last week did mention a secret base in Gotham--so maybe they're the ones who hired Copperhead!"
"You think I'd actually work for those robe-wearing lunáticos? Hah!" Larissa spat the ground besides Dinah's heeled feet, an angry glint now in her snake-like eyes. "Just because I buy some snake venom and splicing enhancements from them every now and then doesn't mean I'd do a job for those guys! And even if I wanted to, those weirdos are so broke they couldn't even hire me to take out the trash for them!"
"So you at least know where those guys are here." Dinah crossed her arms under her substantial chest that was already being pushed up by her jacket and smiled. "Sounds like we're gonna be holding onto you for a little longer, assassin."
"What? Why don't we just throw her in Arkham, we can visit her anytime we want there." Stephanie interjected with a confused look in her eyes, the only part of her face not obscured by a purple-black mask. "And isn't she one of the eleven inmates who escaped last Monday, we can't just-"
Larissa interrupted Stephanie's question before Dinah could correct her. "That's a different Copperhead, cabrona! The guy who you're looking for wears an actual freaking snake costume and is a guy! He even filed a lawsuit against me for copyright infringement over me 'stealing his name'!"
"Oh." Stephanie blinked, looking over at Dinah and cringed again. "I didn't know there were two of them..."
"I think there's actually three Copperheads, wait, it actually might be four, I can't keep track-" Dinah shook her head. "The point is, this Copperhead is an international criminal, and will probably get extradited back to Central America if we turn her in. So she's gonna be staying in a cell back at the Clocktower until she spills."
"Hey, if the cells there are nicer than the ones I'm used to, forget about me talking." Larissa laughed, before growling darkly, "Then again, I might tell you my secrets if you tell me yours, pájaros. For starters, who fucking ratted my hideout to you two--!"
"Not gonna happen." Dinah rubbed her eyes. This was a late mission, even for her. "I wish Nightwing was here, he's a lot better at playing nice cop than I am..."
"Nightwing?" Just at the sound of his name alone, Larissa instantly changed her whole demeanor, straightening up her crouched back, widening her eyes, pushing her busty chest (already squeezed tightly by Stephanie's rope that bound her statuesque figure) and licking her full lips salaciously. "I've heard some rumors about him being in Gotham from the women's wing in Arkham, apparently he's been screwing some of the lucky putas that he catches...In that case, new deal: I'll talk if I get to be up close and personal with tall, dark, no handsome..."
"Here we go again.." Dinah groaned, rolling her eyes and resisting the urge to laugh at how pissed Helena was gonna be when she learnt Copperhead's terms and conditions back at the Watchtower later.
