Santana's surrounded. She's in a warehouse by the harbour, backed up in a corner by this martial arts chick named Lady Vic, and her partner-in-crime, Brutale. They have several crates full of hi-tech weaponry, ready to be sent out to the major crime bosses of Gotham. In fact, they're set to be delivered right now, and Santana's job is to find out where they are.
"Too late, Ember," Lady Vic says, jumping off from a stack of crates. "The tech's leaving the harbour right now."
"Let me silence her, Lady Vic," says Brutale, brandishing several blades between his fingers.
"I guess we have to, Brutale. A pity. She has such lovely legs."
"Stop flirting with my girlfriend, bitch."
Brittany flies from out of nowhere and tackles Lady Vic. Brutale's distracted, and Santana manages to knock him out with a swift kick to his head.
"Ember," comes Sam's voice from her earphone, "I need backup. Tech's on a boat half a mile out and the place is swarming with guards."
"Roger that."
Santana looks at Brittany, who's tying the criminals up and hanging them from one of the warehouse beams.
"Oracle, tell the Gotham Police we've got two gifts for Blackgate all wrapped up in Warehouse 32."
"Done. What's the sitch on the goods?"
"They're on a boat, about half a mile from here. Oneirus' there, needs backup. We'll have the boat turned back thirty minutes tops."
"Good. Oh, and he said yes. Robin's gonna pick you up by nine at Kord's building."
Santana smiles.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Sam's gonna go nuts.
"Nyx. The guns are half a mile out in the water. Oneirus' on the boat, but he needs back up."
"Got it, babe."
Santana feels the ground fall beneath her as Brittany holds on to her armpits and flies off, outside the warehouse and towards the boat.
"This will never get comfortable."
"Says the one being carried around. Did Oracle contact you?"
"Yeah. The big guy says yes."
Santana looks up to see Brittany grinning.
"Sam's going to love it."
"Isn't that the reason we thought that up?"
They approach the boat, and Santana sees Sam beating up a lot of armed men near the back.
"Nyx," Santana says, "drop me on top of the two guards over there. I'll turn the boat. You help Sam whoop their asses and find the weapons."
"Okay."
They're right over the boat when Brittany lets go of her. She startles the guards when she lands in front of them, and they point their guns at her forehead.
"I suggest you put your guns away, men."
The guards laugh, and Santana has to control the urge to burn their faces off.
"What's a little lady like you going to do?"
"This."
Flames shoot out of Santana's fingers and wrap themselves around the guards' guns. The metal heats up, causing the guards to drop them and howl in pain.
Santana smirks.
"Warned you."
Guard 1 swings a punch at her, but she dodges, and Santana swipes her leg underneath him, causing him to crash to the ground. Immediately after, she uses her other leg to kick Guard 2 in the balls.
Santana stands up and walks into the room.
She sees the captain standing, one hand on the wheel, the other in his pocket.
"Step away from the steering wheel and no one gets hurt."
The man snaps his head towards Santana, before drawing a gun from his pocket and firing at her. She dodges each shot.
"Why do you guys always want to do this the hard way," she sighs.
She somersaults, and her feet connect with the captain's skull. His head hits the control board, before sliding towards the ground.
He's out cold.
"Ember, Nyx and I secured the boat, and the weapons are below deck. It looks like the police are waiting at the dock."
"Got it. I have control of the boat. Turning it around now."
Santana turns the wheel, and in a few minutes, she sees the lights of the police cars.
Santana stops the boat against the harbour.
"Oneirus, tell Nyx to fly you to Kord's building. Don't change out of you costumes. I'll catch up."
"Why?"
"Trust me."
Santana gets out of the room; Sam and Brittany are gone, and all the bad guys are unconcsious.
She checks the time, and sees it's about twenty minutes before nine. Good thing Kord's building's only a few hundred meters away.
Santana sees police nearing the boat, so she jumps off it and melts into the night.
She hops from building to building, using the shadows to conceal her.
"Santana, Robin's on his way. Are you done?"
"Yeah. We're on our way, actually. Is the big bat there?"
"Not yet, but he's a man of his word. He'll come by. I swear, though, it took me hours to convince him to let you guys see the cave."
Santana laughs. She can imagine.
"Thanks again, Oracle. Any chance you're going to come by? Maybe let us see what you look like?"
"You're not the only superheroes I'm helping, you know."
"Damn. I was betting against Britt that you're a cyborg."
"What did she bet?"
"She says she thinks you're a girl paralyzed from the waist-down who used to be a crime fighter."
Santana hears a chuckle on the other line.
"Pretty specific, don't you think?"
"Yeah. I hoped you were going because I really wanted to win this thing."
"What's the prize?"
Santana blushes.
"Uh—"
The Oracle laughs again.
"I get it. Girlfriend stuff. So Santana, I have a situation on another line. Say Happy Birthday to Sam for me."
"'Night, Oracle. Thanks again."
The Oracle signs off, just as Santana nears the Kord Tower. She sees Brittany and Sam, hanging near an alley. She frontflips off the building.
"Oreinus, you did a pretty good job finding the boat."
"Well, thanks I guess," Sam sighs.
"Anything wrong?" Brittany asks.
Sam shrugs.
"Nothing really. It's just, we spent my whole birthday tracking down vapour guns, and the whole night getting them back. I always thought superhero birthdays would be better."
Brittany hugs Sam while Santana ruffles his hair.
"The day's not over yet, Trouty."
Sam's mouth forms into a small smile.
"I guess I can't complain. I have you guys as my best friends."
"That's the spirit," Brittany grins. "Anyway, we haven't given you our present yet."
"Is that why we're here?"
Light floods the dark alley.
"Ember, you here?"
A guy in familiar red, yellow, and green cloth emerges from the—
"It's the Batmobile! Oh my god."
Santana turns from the car to look at Sam. His eyes are wide, and he's grinning the widest she's ever seen, which is really huge. She sees Brittany smiling at her.
"Oh god. You're Robin."
"In the flesh," the Boy Wonder grins. "Oh, and Nyx," he says, walking over to Brittany, "Oracle told me to give this earphone to you. How the hell did you melt the last one?"
"I dropped it in my mom's curry."
Santana's fighting not to blush.
Actually, she melted it when she was taking it off and Brittany suddenly kissed her.
But Robin doesn't need to know that.
She sees Sam turn his eyes to Brittany.
"You know the Oracle?"
"Oh yeah," Santana says, grinning. Fanboy Sam is the best Sam. "She told me to give you a happy birthday."
"You talked to her? She knows me?"
Santana's rethinking the birthday idea. She doesn't want Sam to die from a heart attack.
"Come on," Robin says, handing them black strips of cloth. "Blindfold yourselves and get into the Batmobile. Happy Birthday, Oneirus! You can ride shotgun."
"Ohgodohgodohgodohgod."
"I hope Sam doesn't wet himself," Brittany whispers into Santana's ear.
"Same babe."
"Okay guys, you can look now. Get out of the car."
Santana takes off the blindfold and follows Brittany out the car.
They're in a cave. The Batcave.
Awe washes over Santana.
This is the HQ of one of the world's greatest heroes, and somehow she's in it.
But she's pretty sure the feeling she has is nothing compared to Sam's.
"I'm in the Batcave I'm in the Batcave I'm in the Batcave I'm in the Batcave," she hears Sam whisper to himself.
His eyes are huge as he drinks in the place.
"What do you think of our birthday present, Trouty?" Santana asks.
"If you and B weren't dating I'd marry both of you."
Santana sees Robin smile.
"Is he alright?" he asks, pointing to her best friend.
"He's been dreaming about this since he was a zygote," Brittany says.
Robin nods.
"I can't wait 'til he notices Batman."
Santana looks at him confused.
"Wait, is he here?"
Robin points towards a table, near the wall opposite them. It has a cake on it. Santana looks to its left, and, sure enough, she sees the Dark Knight.
"Happy Birthday, Oneirus."
Is it just her, or is the Batman actually smiling at Sam?
Sam turns his head towards the voice, and Santana can actually see his jaw drop.
"Robin," Brittany says, "can you unlock the Batmobile? I forgot something."
"Sure, Nyx."
Brittany drags Santana with her towards the car.
"I'm really happy we made Sam's day, San."
"Yeah, Britt, me too," she says, watching Sam talk with Batman and Robin. It's one of the happiest she's seen him.
"He probably wouldn't get mad if we did a quickie in the car, right?"
"He—what?"
"I've been thinking about what Lady Vic said. You're legs look really lovely and it's been a long day."
"I—"
"Not another word, babe. We'll join the birthday party later,"
5