If you this is your first time reading this story, if you just realized this is being revamped then, welcome back. I have decided it's time to reboot this story. While searching through old notebooks I found notes, excerpts, timelines, etc. from this story and decided to get off my ass and work on it.

Now, this won't seem too different I guess, but a lot of things are changing. But I'll get more into that later. For now, enjoy the new prologue.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I ikely don't own.

Warnings: cursing, implied violence.

Day -4, 23:07

Black Canary trudges into her apartment while holding her aching back. The day had been long- work, training the sidekicks, and then helping Ollie with her other work- had taken a toll on her. Especially since Ollie is still pouting about Roy- the pair is acting like a couple going through a divorce. Dinah tries to hold back a snort as she sheds her boots and coat.

She allows herself to fall onto the couch with a grunt and swipes up the remote hoping a little TV will help her wind down. Or at least not go and punch someone's face in. Because killing people is against her MO.

The national news theme plays as the program returns from a commercial. Dinah moves to change the station to something more entertaining- hopefully she could catch the end of the Jimmy Fallon Show- but something stops her. A picture of a tall redheaded woman appears on the screen and the breath catches in Dinah's throat.

The blonde news anchor leans on the table with forced remorse as she narrates the story, "… a little known superhero, going by the name Whiplash, disappeared in the middle of a battle. She was fighting one of her normal adversaries in the middle of a busy street and right before she was hit by an ice beam, she disappeared. Now, this wasn't unusual for the teleporting heroine but the authorities knew something was up when she never reappeared.

"The authorities waited several days for her reappearance but prospects turned grim when they found her trademark whip lying next to a spot of dried blood on a deserted country road outside of town. Authorities are wondering whether Whiplash's disappearance is connects to the disappearances of other small town heroes…" The screen suddenly goes black.

Dinah throws the remotes onto the table next to her and she curls up into a ball. Sobs rack her frame as the stress finally overwhelms her. She feels stupid letting her day- her life catch up to her like this but she can't help it. Life hadn't been making sense lately. She doesn't even- didn't even know Whiplash, but she feels a camaraderie with the young heroine. They had the same purpose, the same drive and now she was just gone.

This has to be the twelfth disappearance in the last week alone. Dinah knows she needs to report this to Batman- thought he probably has already heard he likes to know that other people actually pay attention to detail.

Dinah's suddenly slides open with a crash. She jumps up, sliding smoothly into am offensive position as she turns towards the intruder. But before she realizes what's happening, she is struck on the back of the neck and the world goes black. The sound of scales scratching her carpet lulls her into unconsciousness.

Day -1, 13:30

"So, what's the word, Bats?" Wally asks the enlarged screen cheerfully as he skids to a stop in front of the computer. Batman shoots the speedster a glare but doesn't grace him with a response; instead he turns to greet Kaldur and the rest of team as they filter in behind him.

"I presume you have a mission for us?" Kaldur questions as he looks up at the projection.

"No." The Dark Knight responds in a monotone. Before he can continue Wally makes a noise of protest.

"Why are we here then?" The speedster whines and Batman sends him another dark glare, silencing him rather quickly. Robin's light smirk melts into a frown as he turns to his mentor.

"It's because of the disappearances, isn't it?" The raven asks quietly- not managing quite as successfully as his mentor at keeping the emotion out of his voice.

"Disappearances?" M'gann wonders aloud as Kaldur's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Sir, I don't recall hearing about anyone disappearing." Conner and Artemis nod their agreement while Wally frowns in thought. He suddenly smacks himself in the head.

"Hello, Wally," He mutters and Artemis mouths 'hello Wally?' with a smirk to Robin. Robin shrugs with a light smirk but his actions are slightly subdued. "You're talking about the small town heroes, right?"

"Correct," Batman affirms. He opens his mouth to continue but is once again cut off, this time by Conner.

"Small town heroes?" The clone questions, the unfamiliar term rolling off his tongue uneasily. His face is scrunched up in confusion, he can't recall the genomes ever mentioning these 'small town heroes', only the well-known ones like Batman, Green Lantern and of course Superman.

"Yes, small town heroes (or STHs), you didn't think the Justice League were the only capes in the world, did you?" Robin asks him with an underlying tone of amusement.

"There are superheroes working outside of the Justice League?" M'gann asks, blinking in surprise. Robin and Wally share a grin.

"Of course there are, beautiful!" Wally exclaims joyfully and he throws an arm around the Martian, but there is a solemn air about him that is only amplified when Batman brings the conversation back to point.

"Or, at least, there used to be." He practically growls and the teens fall silent, the remaining good feelings evaporating, "Over the past couple of months, more and more heroes have been disappearing. At first we suspected it was the work of one person, a serial killer or kidnapper with a grudge against heroes, trying to get as many heroes as possible off the field."

"Would someone really do that?" M'gann squeaks.

"It's happened before," Robin informs them, "During the World Wars, people would often target metas so they couldn't be persuaded to help the other side, though it normally wasn't just one person doing the hunting like this seemed to be."

Batman nods sagely, "They would systematically travel across America taking out these heroes. The lesser known heroes, like Whiplash, are easy targets and as such the killer would avoid large cities like the plague. Therefore, aside from random jumps from state to other states or even countries, the perp had general pattern that could be followed. Then, a few weeks ago, their agenda changed. Multiple heroes would disappear in cities across the world every single day. Some seemingly into thin air- the only thing remaining being either their emblem or their signature weapon." Artemis and M'gann trade worried looks.

"I get that this is bad, but why tell us now?" Wally butts in with a worried frown and is once again subjected to the patented Batglare. Kaldur steps up hastily before the Dark Knight can emotionally scar the speedster.

"I'm sorry, sir," The Atlantean begins hesitantly, "But I too am curious as to how this pertains to us, I do not think any of us could be considered 'small town heroes' and it seems nearly half our team had known of the disappearances already." Batman sighs nosily through his nose.

"Some of the bodies have also started to turn up," He responds cutting straight to the point. Conner eyes widen and M'gann's hand flies to cover her mouth. "And the bodies are fresh. They've also begun widening their range of targets."

Robin's eyes go wide, "You mean… That's why..?" He breathes in shock, his mask falling completely.

"Yes," Batman nods almost regretfully at his protégé, "Three days ago, Black Canary went missing from her home with evidence to a break in. Two days ago, Captain Marvel disappeared on his way to school. This morning, red Tornado disappeared from within Mount Justice. And that's only the League members we've been able to confirm missing. Others may have dropped off the grid from their own doing but at the moment we've no way to confirm that." Artemis drops her bow and the rest of the Team reacts similarly. Robin remains stoic, having recovered from the shock moments before and Wally closes his mouth with a click.

"No," Conner growls through his teeth as his fists clench in rage.

"Yes," Batman deadpans, "They're getting cocky, and it's only a matter of time before they come after the rest of the League. I want you to remain on your guard at all times. Stay at the mountain. Trust no one, not even your own mentors- they may not be who they say they are. Stick together and above all, be careful." The screen fades back into transparency and the Team exchange nervous glances.

"Well, that was fun," Wally grumbles. His efforts get a birdarang to the head.

Day 0, 19:52

After the debriefing, if it could even be called that, the Team stick to the commons together. With the thought of 'safety in numbers' on their minds, the teen heroes had camped out the night before to ease some of the tension and paranoia. The wary silence that has settled upon them doesn't last for much longer.

A siren blares to life in the mission room, causing the inhabitants of the mountain to jump. Wally and Robin spare no time in taking off towards the source of the noise with their teammates on their heels. Wally skids into the room and comes to a stop in front of the computer. Robin stops not feet from the stuttering screen as he reaches for the holographic keyboard.

"What is this noise?" Kaldur yells over the obnoxious wailing. Robin takes a moment to allow his fingers to dance across the keys before answering.

"It's a distress signal, from the Watchtower!" Robin yells back, trying to patch the sender of the signal through.

"What the hell is the Watchtower?" Conner roars over the siren, "And why the hell are they trying to contact us?" Robin shakes his head, focusing almost completely on the task at hand.

"The Watchtower is the League's headquarters- their real headquarters."Kaldur informs them somewhat bitterly, though the others don't quite catch the reason.

Any luck? M'gann asks telepathically, falling back on her psychic abilities in order to make herself heard. The others just barely flinch although Robin show no outward sign that he's heard at all.

Nope, the signal's jamming. Something's blocking me from connecting prope-"Dammit!" The Boy Wonder bursts out suddenly as the sirens cut off.

Wally rubs his ears and winces. "What happened?"

"I lost the signal." Robin informs them torn between anger and disbelief. The Team turns to stare at him in a dawning horror.

I'd really appreciate it if you guys would check out my livejournal and my tumblr under the username bloodofthedawn. On my livejournal I explain things that I may not have outright said in the story and things reviewers bring up as well as rant a bit. I've recently started to use my tumblr to start updating on what I'm working on at the moment so you guys know I am working!

I'd love to know you guys are watching too, so drop a line/follow/etc. so I know it's not all for naught. Thank you my lovely readers~

I'm baaccckk~

~Dawn