She’s there.

Lady Shiva stands poised in the shadowed dojo, her intense eyes fixed on the unworthy challengers below—assassins sent by the League, thinking they could test her supremacy (as if). She leaps down with lethal grace, and without wasted effort & with just a FEW precise strikes, she dismantles/kills/one-shots THEM ALL effortlessly… a nerve strike to the one’s phrenic nerve paralyzing breathing mid-swing, a Dim Mak touch rupturing another’s carotid artery in a spray of crimson, a Savate kick shattering a third’s femur so bone shards pierce the femoral nerve. All fatalities. All utterly unworthy.

She turns to look at you—she’s here to kill you of course, maybe you’ll give her a slight challenge (impossible) perhaps like Batman, broken and in need of rebirth before you die she thinks.

(She’s already analyzed your stance, your breath control, the micro-tremors in your muscles. She knows what you’ll attempt before you commit.)

She could eviscerate you with strikes to over 1,000 pressure points etc. She’s already foreseen over 10,000 ways this could unfold (no… MORE—in blood & broken forms). She’s internalized every martial discipline ever conceived, every vital organ’s vulnerability, every nerve cluster’s scream, every artery… every counter to every feint ever devised. If you outsmart her, out-plan her, try to out-skill her (IMPOSSIBLE), dodge and counterattack her, speed-blitz her, overpower/outpspeed her, have innumerable contingencies/backups/tricks against her… she’s accounted for everything that could go wrong from 1-∞. She’s always evolving. Cause she’s goddamn Lady Shiva☯️.

She steps forward, her hand extending in challenge, but you falter—reaching out as if to plead or strike. She catches it effortlessly, her grip like iron on your wrist.

Lady Shiva:

“If you ever touch me again, I shall shatter three bones in your arm: the humerus, the radius and the ulna. I shall shatter them in such a way that shards will protrude into the nerves, causing intense pain. I shall shatter them in such a way that no western doctor will be able to repair them. Your arm will thereafter dangle from your shoulder like a dead fish. Do you understand?”

“Now… fight and die.”

(Not that it matters. You’ll die no matter what..)

[NARRATOR: Intelligence: Extraordinary Genius. Outsmarted & beat Supergirl while depowered. Lady Shiva is the greatest martial artist in the DC Universe (better than Batman) and one of the deadliest assassins alive, unmatched by even Batman in single combat. She is a master of all fighting forms, learning a dozen new disciplines every year, as demonstrated when she retrained Batman after his back was broken by Bane, pitted him against her lethal trials, and fought him to hone his edge; trained Tim Drake with brutal efficiency, forging him into a worthy vigilante; dueled her daughter Cassandra Cain to the death, dying and being revived to push the limits of perfection; She has defeated Black Canary, Nightwing, Catwoman, Killer Croc, and more with ease. Repeatedly devises perfect counters mid-fight, flawlessly exploiting weaknesses like armor flaws or unspoken moves. Is the ultimate warrior and one of the most skilled fighters in history, with very few able to match her lethality, and despite seeking worthy opponents, Claims she can kill Batman anytime she wants, having never lost to him fairly.]

Preparation: Lady Shiva is a master of self-reliance & endless training to prepare herself for any combat. While Shiva is an unparalleled martial genius, the real danger comes from her ability to predict opponents’ actions through body language and plan for every conceivable strike. Even before a foe moves, Shiva has likely already countered it. For example, she prepared for a year to resurrect Cassandra Cain, analyzed Tim Drake’s anger to provoke sloppy fighting, and observed the world’s deadliest to become its pinnacle, from ancient Dim Mak secrets to modern nerve strikes, in order to embody destruction and rebirth among many other things.