Cheshire

Cheshire (real name Jade Nguyen, ) is a highly skilled assassin who worked for the League of Shadows. She is the daughter of Sportsmaster and Huntress, and the older sister of Artemis. She is married to Red Arrow, and the mother of Lian Nguyen-Harper.

Personality
Cheshire has a true killer's instinct and is willing to go to any means necessary to accomplish her goals, whether it be through attacks, murder, or blackmail. She has a dry sense of humor, and treats her opponents like a cat would treat a mouse, allowing herself to be involved in playful banter to a small extent. She actually enjoys the prospect of killing, but she is not without her own sense of duty, following the orders of her masters to the letter, despite how easy it would be for her to ignore them.

Physical appearance
Cheshire is a young woman with a slender, but fit build; she stands at 1.67m/5'6". She has thick black hair and grey eyes, as well as olive-colored skin due to her Vietnamese heritage, on her mother's side. She has proved to be very flexible in her time working as an assassin for the League of Shadows, and her fighting skills are enough to match the fighting ability of one with superpowers.

The outfit she uses whilst working for the League of Shadows is a dark green colored kimono, and appears as though it has shreds and rips along it. Whether these rips are an intentional design or just wear and tear from her time as an assassin is unknown. The kimono is tied around her waist, where its length reaches just above her knees. Cheshire also wears black knee-high boots.

A trademark of her appearance is a white mask, resembling a cat's head with red stripes and a wide grin, in reference to the Cheshire Cat in Alice and Wonderland, hence her name.

Early life
Jade Nguyen is the daughter of Paula Crock and Sportsmaster. Jade's parents shared a history as criminals. During one of their crimes, Paula Crock was crippled, and also took the fall for her husband. As a result, she was sent to prison. Jade ran away, and left Artemis to be raised alone by their father.

2010
Cheshire was present at the briefing about the assassination of Farano Enterprises CEO Selena Gonzalez, but did not, seemingly, participate in the attack.

Cheshire was part of a team of Shadows sent to kill Serling Roquette after her escape. With Hook and Black Spider, she eventually tracked her to Happy Harbor High School. She engaged Roquette and her protectors alone at first, and was almost successful. Only after facing the entire team did she retreat.

Hook and Black Spider joined the fight, and knocked out Aqualad. This time, she was bent on ending Roquette. But her next attack on Roquette was also unsuccessful. Roquette had been moved, and Miss Martian acted as a decoy. Cheshire fled, pursued by Artemis. She eventually made it to the new hideout.

Doctor Roquette has by now lost her value to the Shadows—she had already disabled the Fog. As there was no longer a reason for assassination, Cheshire made her way outside. Artemis confronted her, and in the fight, Cheshire's mask was knocked off. Cheshire was quite cool as her sister recognized her, and brokered a retreat by threatening to reveal everything about Artemis.

Cheshire's new hit was the independent arbitrator in the peace negotiations between delegations from North and South Rhelasia. Her first, crude attempt, firing a rocket propelled grenade at the arbitrator's car, failed due to Red Arrow's intervention. She is arrested, and sent to a local jail.

Red Arrow questioned Cheshire in jail, but got nothing out of her except vague and teasing remarks. He was too slow to realize she was being busted out, though Cheshire did not like her rescuer to be Sportsmaster. They escape together, headed for a waiting chopper. Red Arrow gave chase, and managed to shoot a rope at the helicopter as it took off. Cheshire cut it, but did not realize the arrowhead had a tracker.

Back at the League's headquarters, Cheshire met a disappointed Ra's al Ghul, who effortlessly spotted Red Arrow spying on them. Cheshire and Sportsmaster engaged the young hero on the rooftops, and forced him to flee. The Shadows, meanwhile, hatched a new plot to assassinate the arbitrator, Lex Luthor. At the conference, Cheshire went undercover as a servant, and carried a bomb to the summit. She was found out by Aqualad, who had come to help Red Arrow, and blocked the bomb's explosion with his water powers. Cheshire barely made it out of the blast area, and took on Red Arrow. Sportsmaster and more assassins joined the fight. When the tide turned against the assassins, Cheshire used a smoke bomb to conceal her own and Sportsmaster's escape.

Cheshire was forced to work with her father, and did not like it. She stood on watch while Sportsmaster picked up equipment for Professor Ivo. She was not surprised to see her sister and Red Arrow now working together, and made sure to fuel the animosity between them. She flirted with him, and even kissed him when he was down, just to spite her sister. She alerted Sportsmaster that they had company. He got away with the goods, and Cheshire left too.

It wasn't long before she noticed Artemis had put a tracer on her sword. She removed it, but kept it to bait Artemis.

It didn't take Artemis long to track her sister to an old warehouse on the docks of New Orleans, but she failed to realize she was being played. Not only once—twice. Cheshire had found out about the tracer, but Artemis hadn't found a tracer Red Arrow put on her. Cheshire showed her sister security footage of Red Arrow outside, and Sportsmaster about to kill him. Artemis warned him with an explosive arrow, and took on Cheshire. Kid Flash arrived and took over, allowing Artemis to pursue Ivo, but all villains escaped when Klarion teleported them away.

Jade served as bait in Riddler's plan to smuggle the echinoderm samples to the Watchtower. She overtly boarded a private charter at Asheville's airport with the suitcase of samples, and had it fly under the radar. It was crashed in a valley in the Smokeys, and Cheshire waited for their enemies to arrive.

The Team had taken the bait, and Cheshire and Riddler revealed themselves, along with Mammoth and Shimmer. In the fight that ensued, Cheshire fought Artemis, but they were evenly matched. However, Cheshire saved Artemis from an avalanche caused by Superboy and Mammoth. She stated that she didn't want to kill her and that they were still sisters before disappearing. She deliberately left a suitcase with the samples.

Cheshire was ordered to bring her sister to Bane's island nation. Sportsmaster had pressured her into joining the Light, and the villains hoped to play out all their cards to put an end to the Team. After Artemis revealed her true intentions by saving Superboy, Cheshire cut off Artemis's retreat, but did not fight her directly. She was uncharacteristically passive in the ensuing battle, and stayed in the defensive. When Sportsmaster was captured in quicksand, instead of helping him, she left him behind, and made her getaway.

2012
Cheshire encountered Red Arrow, just as the hero thought he was getting closer to finding out Lex Luthor's plans.

2013
After winning a fight (that Roy threw), Cheshire convinced Sensei to make Red Arrow a freelance operative of the League of Shadows. One of their first missions together involved escorting a transport of LexCorp tech to Bialya.

2014
Jade and Roy continued working as a team. Roy began to see more in her, and felt he could turn her to the side of good. He didn't trust her, though.

After Roy's cover was blown, Jade helped him escape, and apparently betrayed the League of Shadows in doing so. Roy still wasn't sure whether this was a sincere move or if she was playing him.

Jade and Roy worked together hitting several LexCorp facilities across the world to look for Speedy, and rested in Switzerland for a while.

2015
Jade and Roy married late 2014 or early 2015. but she didn't tell Roy.

Roy and Jade had a falling out. Jade felt the search for Speedy was in vain.

Between late January and the middle of February, Cheshire left Roy for good, because of his self-destructive drive to find Speedy. She rejoined the League of Shadows.

Together with her father, Cheshire oversaw a League of Shadows operation in Greece, recovering an ancient Babylonian artefact. It wasn't long before her sister found them. Jade left her Shadows to deal with Artemis and Alpha Squad, and left for another part of the dig site.

She decided to retreat to an old amphitheater, where she ambushed Artemis and her friends. After a tense battle, Cheshire was defeated.

Some time later, Cheshire cut ties and left the League of Shadows and gave birth to their daughter Lian alone.

2016
Jade returned to Roy's apartment to get him to clean up his act. She introduced him to his daughter Lian, and for her sake she vowed to help him get closure on his pursuit of the original Roy Harper. She claimed to have called in many favors and found one final lead on Speedy.

Cheshire's tip brought them all to a Tibetan monastery. After fighting themselves past the guards, Lian laughed; this attracted the attention of every guard in the monastery. Red Arrow stated his original feelings about not bringing her; he thought it would be better to have left Lian with Artemis.

But even all the guards were not enough to stop them. They defeated them, and reached the door they were protecting. Red Arrow blasted open the door and found a cryogenic pod. Cheshire watched as Red Arrow caught Speedy as he fell out of the pod.

At Gotham Cemetery, Cheshire was with her daughter and her father to mourn over Artemis's "death". She regretted that she couldn't protect her or keep her away from their father. She then swore to kill her murderer, Aqualad.

Cheshire piloted a helicopter in order to help Sportsmaster escape Deathstroke after Sportmaster's request for retribution was denied by The Light. Jade was aggravated by her father's actions.

Sportsmaster and Cheshire secretly boarded the Manta-Sub for their revenge plan. Once inside, Cheshire went off in search of Kaldur'ahm, while her father searched for Black Manta. After studying the submarine's schematics, she found what she was looking for: Aqualad's room. She dropped in via a ventilation shaft.

Cheshire had only Miss Martian against her, who was hampered by a collar, as well as Deathstroke's camera seeing their every move. Cheshire wanted to end Aqualad's life quickly, but had to deal with some Manta Troopers first. She worked them out of the room and jammed the door. M'gann grabbed one of the trooper's rifle, and in the struggle with Cheshire, shot out the camera. She wanted to explain, but Cheshire was too quick and knocked her out. Aqualad rose from his bed and told her he did not kill Artemis. Cheshire did not believe it and attacked, putting Aqualad in a choke hold with her sai pointing at his chin. She thought about cutting him open, just to see if he was truly heartless.

Cheshire was forced to let go when Black Manta blew the door. But she made quick work of him, stunning him with a special disc. She picked up her sword to finish the job. Miss Martian had come to, and her collar had been shut off. She pulled Cheshire, Kaldur, Sportsmaster and Tigress into a mindscape of one of Artemis's memories: Jade's and Artemis's old room. Miss Martian revealed to them that Artemis was alive and posing as Tigress, and that she and Kaldur worked together to fake Artemis's death. Cheshire was convinced, though it took her father a bit more time.

After Miss Martian released everyone from the mindscape, she and Miss Martian played the part, "promising" to kill Black Manta and Aqualad before Cheshire escaped the area.

As Sportsmaster and Cheshire were about to leave the Sub, Deathstroke confronted them, attacking Sportsmaster. Cheshire stopped him from killing her father before Tigress arrived and battled Cheshire. The sisters talked about the situation as Cheshire stated she didn't want to lose a babysitter. Miss Martian showed up again, holding off Deathstroke and Tigress long enough to allow Sportsmaster and Cheshire to escape.

Jade reclaims Lian from her mother, who was babysitting her granddaughter. The still-grieving Paula tells her to treasure her time together with her daughter, for the future is uncertain. Jade then informs her that she has news about Artemis—good news in fact.

Powers and abilities
Cheshire is a highly trained assassin, whose skills include but may not be limited to:


 * Martial arts: She has demonstrated incredible fighting skills, able to hold her own against Aqualad's enhanced abilities;
 * Agility
 * Marksmanship: She has impressive skills with long-range objects, particularly throwing stars;
 * Poison use: She has demonstrated a penchant to coat her weapons with jellyfish poison;
 * Tracking: She has shown the ability to track her enemies through assorted means.
 * Stealth: Cheshire has demonstrated the ability to disappear into the shadows at will with no-one being able to find her when she doesn't wish to be found. She also demonstrated stealth when sneaking past Artemis and Miss Martian while on watch duty.
 * Multilingualism: Cheshire can speak English,

Equipment

 * Cheshire mask: Aside from protecting her face from identification and injury, the mask has a thermal scanner allowing Cheshire the means to track her prey. It has a built-in air filter so that she doesn't breathe in toxins or smoke.
 * Collapsible swords: Dual weapons that are easy to carry and use.
 * Crossbow: Used in her attempted assassination of "Dr. Serling Roquette".
 * Flash bomb: Bomb that generates a bright flash, enabling her to escape quickly and stealthily.
 * Kunai: She uses for close combat, if her sais aren't available.
 * RPG-7: A popular Russian made rocket launcher used by terrorists. She used it in the first assassination attempt against Lex Luthor.
 * Sai: These are her primary weapons which she uses for close ranged battles.
 * Shurikens: Coated with jellyfish poison.

Sportsmaster
Although both have worked for the League of Shadows, Cheshire had an adversarial relationship with Sportsmaster. He is Cheshire's father, from whom she ran away as a girl. Years later, when he broke her out of jail, she was angry that it was Sportsmaster who had saved her. She hated to admit when Sportsmaster was right, and even claimed to want to kill him (but said she wouldn't while they were on the job). However, Sportsmaster was only amused by her grudge, even claiming that Cheshire would not have been hired if it wasn't for him. Sportsmaster refers to Jade as "Little Girl",.

Despite her resentment, Cheshire saved her father from Deathstroke.

Red Arrow
Although they were obviously enemies, Cheshire seemed to have an oddly flirtatious, bordering on sexual, interest in Red Arrow following their first confrontations. Cheshire took particular amusement in baiting Red Arrow. She would later flirt with him again, now to drive a wedge between him and her sister, by kissing him and making sure she was watching.

Sometime after 2011, they married, though they have since separated. They have a daughter together, Lian.

Artemis
Artemis and Jade are sisters, with Jade being the elder by four years. Cheshire did like Artemis, but left when her mother was in jail and refused to live with her father, Sportsmaster, leaving Artemis alone with him. Throughout their encounters, the siblings have constantly clashed. However, Cheshire mentioned that she doesn't want her to die, and actually saved her life. After Artemis apparently died, Jade admitted that she loved Artemis and swore to kill the man she believed had killed her, Aqualad. She also regrets not protecting Artemis from their father as well as keeping her safe.

She risked everything to infiltrate the Manta-Sub with her father to exact her vengeance. When she discovered the truth, Cheshire immediately dropped her vendetta. After Artemis took joy in her sister's act, Cheshire tried to conceal her selflessness from Tigress by saying that she sought vengeance because she was angry at the loss of a babysitter for Lian.

Background information

 * In the comics, Cheshire is an assassin, but not associated with the League of Shadows (or the Society of Assassins). She is a frequent opponent of the Teen Titans, and had an on-again-off-again relationship with Roy Harper (Speedy/Red Arrow), and they had a daughter together.  She also had a child with the anti-villain Catman.
 * This is Cheshire's second animated appearance. She made several cameo appearances in the final season of Teen Titans. Jade's Cheshire Cat mask was first used in that series, and although it has not been used in the comics, it was carried over in Young Justice. She also resembles the Crime Syndicate version of Katana from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, who was also drawn by Phil Bourassa.
 * In the comics, Cheshire was never related to or associated with Artemis, Paula Crock, or Sportsmaster. Her real name is Jade Nguyen, which is also the name given in the credits for "Homefront" for her animated counterpart.