Blüdhaven

March 21TH 7:34 a.m.

Linda's Pov

I couldn't believe Master Savage just dumped me in Blüdhaven and told me to cause havoc. This was definitely one of the strangest orders he's given me. I thought as I walked across the street over to the Early Birds Café, where he had gotten a job for me. He also provided me with a small apartment not far from here. I wonder why he chose Blüdhaven though. I mean the first time I'm given a solo mission it's in Blüdhaven, one of the most crime filled cities (aside from Gotham). This would make it hard for me to earn a reputation.

Walking through the door, there was the small ring of a bell. A woman, probably in her mid-thirties came up to me. "Hello, take a seat."

I smiled. "Actually I'm Linda Redehnson, the new employee here."

"Oh right, you're the new waitress!" she exclaimed, while my smile almost completely fell. A waitress, why shouldn't I be surprised? I mean, that's what I've done for most of my life; serving people. She picked up a clipboard from behind the counter and started to read off the paper. "Born December 16th, 1996, so you're nineteen. You've had experience serving people, and are usually a kind, happy person. You're a pretty girl too, so maybe that will bring us some more customers."

I felt my cheeks go red. I've never been called pretty. Maybe by my parents, but even if they did, I don't remember. I looked down at myself, trying to figure out what made me so pretty. My long blonde hair and light green eyes were my only features that stood out. "Thank you."

"Here's your uniform, change room's in the back," she said, handing me a subtle brown, knee-high sundress and a white apron. I took the clothes from her and quickly went to the change room so she couldn't see my blush.

After I'd finished changing, I met the cook of the café, Joe. He was very friendly but he would also try to pull a lame joke now and then. For some strange reason though, those strange jokes felt familiar. Not the joke itself, but the 'some person who would always try to be funny' part. I shrugged it off and focused back on the customers. Which was easy, since there weren't any.

I turned around and sat on the high stools set up in front of the counter. "So what do you guys do all day?"

"We wait," Joe answered simply. He stood beside Melody, but was checking his pastries in the display case.

Around thirty minutes later, the little bell from the door rang and a tall young man walked in. As he took a seat up at the counter, I asked him what he would like to order.

"A cup of coffee, double-double, and a chocolate chip cookie sounds nice," he smiled, looking up at me.

I couldn't help but freeze. He had disheveled black hair and the most intriguing eyes. A misty sky-blue. They felt so familiar.

"You okay?" he asked. I blinked a few times, and nodded, scurrying behind the counter to make his coffee and get his cookie.

"Here," I said, sliding his coffee and plated-cookie towards him.

"Thanks," he said, taking a sip from his coffee. I watched him as he ate, only because he seemed very familiar. I couldn't have known him before could I? If I did, then I met him thriteen years ago. Watching him as he ate his cookie slowly, I noticed that he had a very serious face.

"You don't like the cookie?" I asked. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts and put on a small smile.

"I've had better," he answered casually, throwing in a smirk. I didn't know that I had started to smile though.

"Then what's bothering you?" I asked him. He seemed surprised by my question. I grabbed a stool from behind the counter and sat down in front of him. "I have a lot of time, so take as long as you want." Hopefully Melody won't fire me for this.

"It's nothing," he said. I stared at him until he sighed in defeat and started to talk. "A close friend of mine passed away yesterday."

"I know how you feel," I told him. "I lost my parents to a house fire when I was six."

"Sorry to hear," he apologized. I shook my head.

"All things happen for a reason," I smiled. "Like me and you talking here."

"So what's your name?" he asked, taking another bite from his cookie.

"Call me Linda," I said.

"Lin it is," he smiled. I felt a vein in my head pulse. "I'm Richard."

"Never call me Lin," I said. "I hate nicknames."

Richard let out a laugh, and agreed that if he can't call me by a nickname, he'll call me by my middle one.

"Linda is my middle name," I told him. He was about to ask a question, but I cut him short. "And no I won't tell you what it is."

"Why not? I told you mine," he argued, a playful smile on his face.

"I don't tell anyone my first name," I said. Technically, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone my first name because of Master Savage, and he hates it anyways. He was always telling me that it wasn't a proper name and a stupid one too. "My step-dad hates my name."

"How can someone hate a name? Names make people, people," Richard replied. "Tell me, I promise that I won't hate it."

I breathed and looked at Richard. He seemed genuinely kind and friendly. A part of me trusted him once I saw him. Another part of me though keeps repeating Master Savage's words. Tell anyone your first name and I will punish you. I shivered at the thought of being punished. I was punished often as I grew up. I was always trying to go outside on my own, but he would catch me before I even got the chance to step outside. Then there was the punishment. Klarion's shocks were not the kindness.

I was lucky that his phone went off. He answered and a serious look took over his face again. "Sorry, gotta run."

"It's ok," I said, as he threw down 5 dollars. "Listen, I'll tell you my first name the next time we meet."

"Deal, and keep the change," he said, making his way out the door.

A part of me wished that we did talk a bit longer. I sighed, knowing that Master Savage would not approve of my friendship.


Happy Harbor, Mt. Justice

March 21ST 3:14 p.m.

Nightwing's Pov

I was trying to find Linda's bio on my glove computer, but there wasn't any info on her. I frowned, confused with how she even got into Blüdhaven.

"Nightwing," Kitsune's voice said calmly.

I shut my glove off, and turned to face Kitsune, clad in her new uniform. "Dressing up for an occasion?"

She wore a fox mask, a tight red half-sleeve with her newly designed fox-face silhouette, black leggings and combat boots, a yellow utility belt, and her two rare complete sai's (with intricate designs on the hilts) sitting in their holsters. "You're still jealous that Bats got me the sai's."

"Maybe," I shrugged. "So what was so urgent that you had to get back into uniform?"

"Three years ago, I made a deal with Cheshire. The deal was so she'd find info on Alexis, or at least anything new," she started. "Yesterday, I went to go talk to her again. She had great info. Apparently, Vandal's been training someone for the past five years."

I felt my heart beat quicken. Thoughts of holding her and her faint cherry scent were already starting to course through my mind. "So she's still alive?"

She nodded. "Problem is, Vandal's been tinkering with her. She won't remember us, only the fake memories Vandal's given her."

"We have you and M'gann, and we could ask Manhunter if we need too," I pointed out.

"That's problem number one," she said. "Number two is that she won't trust us. Then there's problem number three." She paused and stared at me with her yellow fox eyes. "She's raiding Blüdhaven tonight."

"What?!" I exclaimed. She's going to raid Blüdhaven? "With what, MONQI's? We took care of those five years ago."

"Cheshire, didn't say anything about what she's going to attack with, but this could be our chance to get her back," Kitsune said. "Even if we have to solve problem one and two, we'll have our Alexis back."

We'll have Alexis back... The words ran through my mind. After five years, I could've finally found her. "Kitsune, what about her looks? How are we going to change that?"

"Nightwing, we'll figure that out after we get her back," Kitsune shrugged off. "Right now, we have to come up with a plan to save Blüdhaven and capture her."

"So you, me, Wally, and Batgirl?" I asked. She nodded in agreement. "I'll tell Wally, you tell Batgirl."


Blüdhaven

March 21ST 9:53 p.m.

Blackbird's Pov

I was more nervous, than I've ever been. This was going to be my first time attacking someone, let alone a whole city.

"I trust that you have a plan in mind?" Master Savage asked me through the phone.

"Yes, I'm going to let Ivo's blackbird-bots rain down on the city first," I told him. "Thanks to Ivo, everyone will be able to hear my voice. Then I'm going to take care of the cities hero, Nightwing. I'm going to claim this city as mine."

"Don't let your guard down, he was trained by Batman," Master Savage warned. "And make sure you use as many bots as you like, Klarion's ready with another hundred."

"Of course Master Savage," I said.

"Whatever you do, don't let them take your locket. If you feel like your going to be overwhelmed, you know what to do," Master Savage added.

"Understood, Master Savage," I replied.

I heard him cut the line. Placing the phone down on my night stand, I walked over to mirror in the bathroom and examined myself. My blackbird mask was securely on, the only openings were for my eyes. Thanks to Master Savage, my mask allows me to breath underwater, and resist airborne chemicals. I grabbed one of the tiny black wings attached to the side of my mask, feeling the cold metal. Scanning the rest of my body, I noticed that my full body suit was completely black, including my utility belt and boots.

Shaking my head, I left my apartment through my window, scaling the fire escape easily and landing gracefully on to the roof top. Within a few minutes, the sky grew completely black. I smiled. Blüdhaven would finally get to feel my pain. Within a few seconds, their world would come crashing down on them, just like mine had on that one night.

The blackbird-bots filled the sky of Blüdhaven. I pressed a button on my detonator, and the bots swooped down into Blüdhaven. I could already hear the terrified screams of civilians. I winced. I was supposed to feel happy wasn't I? I was finally getting my revenge, but it felt so wrong. Shrugging it off and focusing on my mission, I slid into the shadows of a nearby warehouse. I found a comfortable spot up on the second floor and waited for Nightwing.


Blüdhaven

March 21ST 10:17 p.m.

Nightwing's Pov

"We need to find the main source, we can't take them all out!" I exclaimed through gritted teeth. I was knocking down bird-bot by bird-bot, but there was always another to come snapping at me.

"Did you say something? I can't hear you!" I heard a muffled scream.

I signaled to Kitsune to start the link. She nodded, her eyes going yellow for a few seconds. I threw a bird-a-rang at a bot that was coming straight at her, before tasering the others.

"Everyone's connected," Kitsune informed. "It's a good thing we have these plugs, once we find her, who knows what she'll say."

"She's stalling us," KF said. "I'm getting really sick of these things too."

"I've got a location," Batgirl interrupted us, after examining one of the bashed up bots. "Bay Warehouse 9."

KF, Kitsune and I all shared a look before we started to the warehouse. KF went ahead, saying that he'll alert us if anything comes up other than more birds.

"There's no one here," KF said. "Wait who are—"

"Kid's unconscious. It's got to be her. No one could take someone out that quickly," Kitsune said.

I could feel my heart pounding. I was so close from finally finding Alexis. Sure it'll take some time to get her memories back, but she'll be back home. I promised I would find and bring her back home.

"Batgirl 2nd floor, Kitsune find Kid Flash, I'll take the ground floor," I ordered.

We ran through the open doors of the ware house and immediately went to our positions.

"I found KF," Kitsune said. "Something's not right. I can sense her here, she's searching for someone."

I silently brough out some bird-a-rangs, turning slowly. The moment I felt my ear plug move out-of-place, I pushed it back, spinning back around.

"Alexis?" I called softly. I watched the shadows in the corner carefully. She was there. I almost walked into the shadows to get her, but the next thing I saw were glowing yellow eyes. "Second floor, left corner."

"Alexis come on, we're not going to hurt you," I said, slipping the bird-a-rangs back into place. I held my hands up in front of me. She blinked.

"She's going to attack," Batgirl said. "She doesn't remember you guys. Her only memories are the ones Savage made up."

"Nightwing, she's going for you," Kitsune said. "It's a good thing this psychic-connection between us is still strong."

Something leaped out of the shadows and went for me first, just like Kitsune predicted. I immediately grabbed a hold of her arms and tried to force her down. I held her arms above her head, and my knees brushed against hers. I examined her, trying to figure out if she really was Alexis. She had a full black mask on, with valkyrie wings on either side. Her eyes glowed yellow, but her hair was a golden blonde. She looked at me and seemed dazed almost.

"Kitsune, if you would," said Batgirl.

Kitsune came up beside me and crouched. My gaze never left hers, while hers drifted to Kitsune's. There was a faint yellow glow from Kitsune's eyes. I watched as Alexis' eyelids started to fall. Kitsune tensed and stood up abruptly. Alexis' eyes glowed completely yellow, and the three of us were suddenly up against a wall.

"You thought you could get me that easily," she laughed. "I've been trained by the best. This was the easiest mission ever, even my training exercises were harder."

"I can hear her," I said, glaring down at her.

I could've sworn that she smirked behind that mask of hers. "Those cheap ear plugs? I threw them out." She pulled out a bo staff and spun it in her hands. "Blüdhaven is mine. Good night, Night—"

KF came running at her, knocking her right into me. Kitsune and Batgirl all fell to the ground, the 3 of us free to move again. KF snapped his head towards Kitsune and exclaimed in a hurry,"Kitsune, hurry up, we don't have that long."

Batgirl took her utility belt from her, while I had a hold of her hands behind her back. When she was regaining conscious, she looked right up at Kitsune and went limp. Kitsune seemed tense again though.

"Kitsune," I said seriously.

"Right before she went unconscious, she said something," said Kitsune. "Freeze, but continue breathing."

"The blackbird-bots," I paled. Turning to KF, I told him to do a quick run through the city. When he came back he shook his head sadly.

"We have to get her to reverse the command," Batgirl said. "Nightwing, take her to the cave. I'll meet you three there with Zatanna."

Batgirl left us in a matter of seconds. I stared down at the limp body in my arms. Did I finally find you? "Let's go, we need to try to figure out who she is, and what Vandal did to her."


Super long, action-packed chapter! I hope you guys liked it :)

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