"You have to understand, you're duties as Shadow Wolf are different than your duties as Ella Cross. And until you can learn that, you're grounded. No internet, television, or friends, until you can separate yourself." I rolled my eyes as I put on my black wolf mask that reached my nose. Bruce was once again giving me a hard time for quote unquote helping a friend.

I put on my raven colored "work" "shirt" and "pants" which was followed by my silver boots, gloves, and utility belt. I checked to make sure I had my sai and bo staff. I figured if I was extra prepared, Bruce might've let me off the hook. But of course when it came to patrolling Dick Grayson always seemed more prepared than I. Never did he have a shoelace undone or a hair out of place. He was perfection defined. The perfect side-kick.

But after a fairly unexciting patrol, I still wasn't off the hook, so my 2nd week of summer was in fact, a bummer, especially when I woke up to my best friends Blondie and Jewel knocking on the large doors of Wayne Manor. I knew it was them because they were screaming the lyrics to the song "Maps" outside our door. Dick and I both ran downstairs in hopes to shut them up.

But of course I picked the only girls dumb or daring enough to egg Bruce Wayne's house to be my best friends. So after being egged, Dick and I told them about my situation through gritted teeth. Following that ordeal, we decided to shower.

For the next 2 weeks my life was fairly uninteresting. We had patrolling every night and it went normally. On July 3rd I was granted my freedom. But of course that night Bruce decided to host one of his fabulous charity events. So instead of celebrating by going to the mall and getting ice cream, I was strolling through my closet, looking for a dress I didn't hate.

The "party" was in full swing when I decided on a blush colored long sparkly strapless dress that made me want to vomit. For 14 years old you'd think I'd be excited about the upper crust living and the pretty dresses, but the crime-fighting excited me a bit more. I was always thankful to Bruce for taking me in and training me, but the charity events every month made me sick. From all of Bruce's airhead friends, to the way I was examined like a piece of meat, but ignored at the same time, aristocracy wasn't the life for me. Charity events always made me wonder what my normal life would've been.

"How many people do you think actually know what this benefit is for?" Dick asked, leaning towards the table I was sitting under, and scaring the pants off of me.

"I would say half. But that may even be a stretch." I muttered in reply.

He sat down next to me and pulled out a pack of cards. "Brucey's gonna be shaking hands til at least 1:00. As usual we're free at 11:00. It's 9:00 now. So take out your hash brown-y bun and let's get to the deck." I rolled my eyes at his hair comment. My room had big windows….I was in my room a lot, so my brown hair turned lighter. But either way a little slapjack didn't hurt.

The next morning I woke up around mid-morning or early afternoon and immediately had to get in my costume. Freeze was making me do early work. But then again that July 4th was the day everything changed. When we arrived it was a typical big baddie fight. I started on the ground, behind Frosty the Snowman and his Ice M-16. I played some nice cat and mouse and knocked him down. As soon as he got up Robin came in and the ball was in fact rolling. We had him done and over with in no time. Next stop, Hall Of Justice.

Ironically Flash and Kid Flash were last, which made me make a mental note to grill KF about that later. But I erased that mental note when people once again confused him with Speedy.

"Have all 5 sidekicks have been in the same place at the same time?" Speedball questioned excitedly.

But as usual Speedy was offended "DON'T CALL US SIDEKICKS! Not after today."

"Touchy touchy" I muttered as we walked in to the Hall Of Justice.

"First time in the Hall Of Justice, I'm a little overwhelmed." Kid Flash once again opened his mouth.

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed- Why isn't anybody ever just whelmed?" Dick exclaimed. I saw his point, but I had to agree with Wally. It was a lot to take in.

"Was that the old snow cone's excuse today. Well sir, I'd expect you to respect other people's levels of whelm." I intruded on the conversation in a stern librarian voice.

So of course our whole "getting to see the hall" was us getting to be on the other side of the glass. But unlike Speedy, I was perfectly fine with that. People were there to take pictures of me and I could chill out and look official. But wasting a perfectly fine hat, and walking out the door, Speedy became regular old Roy Harper.

I also got some pretty weird looks when I stole Roy's hat off the ground, but I figured if I didn't clean up, nobody else would. When you read that it sounds like I stalk him, but I don't exactly have feelings for that particular boy. Well didn't and still don't. It's just kind of the fact that it's a perfectly fine hat, and I don't wanna waste it.

One thing I didn't understand that day was Batman and friends leaving a group of teenagers in a room with technology with a mission sitting on the table without expecting us to pursue it. But when they did leave to help, things between Me, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad did happen to get interesting…. In a PG way.

A note from the Author,

Rereading this, it's probably one of the worst fanfics I've ever published on here. I promise you it will get better. I'm trying my best to get to the plot of the story without leaving out plot points I need for the story. I have a lot of ideas and I want to get them before I lose interest like I so often do. (See Just A Game and 2 Not So Smooth Criminals for proof.) Because I think this could be a very good story. I'm going to bust ass to make sure she doesn't turn into a Mary-Sue and I'm going to try to be as faithful to the characters and the show as possible. But I'm not following episode by episode. Hope you like it.

Xoxo