Chicago, Alder Planetarium- March 20- 2:25 A.M-

It was a cold night in Chicago, so cold that Nightshade could see her breath every time she exhaled. The girl had been sent by Batman to investigate a disappearance; one of the scientists that worked in the planetarium, had been reported missing and the last time someone had seen him was the night the team had been fighting Copy Cat. Nightshade agreed to check it out, but she didn't come alone, the girl stood on top of the planetarium waiting for Skye to finish changing into her suit, and when the girl finally showed up, she was wearing a bright yellow and blue jumpsuit that hugged her tiny figure.

"Sorry I took so long. It's been a while since I last put on the suit," she said with her British accent leaking out every word. Nightshade had decided Skye was perfect for a mission that involved breaking into a facility filled with technology, since every time the girl got close to machines they would break, and that was just what she needed to bypass an advanced security system. The black haired girl nodded at her friend and she extended her hand releasing a wave of electricity out of her hand, the electricity fried the security system and the cameras allowing the girls to enter the building knowing that no one would know they were there. They sneaked into the office of the missing investigator and went through his things. "I didn't think you would tell them about Luthor," said Skye looking over her shoulder at Nightshade.

"Yeah, that might earn me some points with Batman and Aqualad," she answered settling down in front of the computer.

"At least you admit that you desperately need them. I don't get it, what would someone want anything to do with an astrophysicist that limited his work to mapping other galaxies?" she asked going through his files while Nightshade checked his computer.

"I'm more concerned about the who would want anything to do with him, rather than the what," said Nightshade reading his investigations and notes until she found one that talked about S.T.A.R Labs. "Lance, I need you to check this guy out in the S.T.A.R Labs data base," she said opening the file. As soon as she heard that, Skye walked closer to the computer and stared at the information, it talked about a group of scientist that had built a satellite model big enough to reach a wider portion of the earth.

"Dr. Lawrence worked in that project for a while, but then it was shut down by the government fearing someone could use it for a different purpose. The information on the satellite was kept at S.T.A.R Labs in case the project was revived," he said. Nightshade stared at the document that appeared on the screen, the fact that Lawrence had worked with S.T.A.R Labs and that she had seen Luthor at S.T.A.R Labs could not be a coincidence, and now with the man missing, everything seemed to point towards The Light.

"You don't think…" started Skye.

"If they are behind this, then it won't be long till they find us," said Nightshade putting some files in a USB and turning off every computer. "Livewire, fry them," she said, but as she walked away she realized that she had called her by her old code name, something that didn't make Skye too happy. Still, the girl did what she was told and surrounded the computers in electricity that blew their circuits. Skye caught up with Nightshade, but right before they could leave the way they came from, the girl started walking slower while letting out light grunts, suddenly she fell to the ground screaming. Nightshade released an ear-piercing scream while Skye stood behind her frozen in fear not knowing what to do.

"Ni-Nightshade?" she asked watching her friend scream in pain while she grabbed her head. "Jade, are you alright?" Skye tried to grab her shoulder, but Nightshade brushed her off.

"Don't touch me!" she said forcing Skye to pull back her hand. This went on for a couple of minutes until the screaming turned into light grunts and pants. "I'm alright, I'm alright. Don't worry," said Nightshade using the wall to get up from the ground.

Mount Justice- March 20- 9:45 P.M-

The team arrived from a mission in the artic and found Red Tornado fixing Nightshade's bike, it was still damaged from the fight with Poison Ivy, plus some new dents. When they walked in, the girl was sitting on the ground reading a book while Red Tornado tried to fix the scratch the wall had caused. The team walked up to her, but she didn't hear them, she had her earbuds on and the music was so loud they could hear it from a few steps behind. Rocket walked up to the girl and kicked her lightly in the leg making her look at them, oddly enough they had gotten quite close lately.

"When did you get back?" she asked casually ignoring the kick. Nightshade hadn't been on this mission because, according to Batman, she was investigating something for him, something only Aqualad, Nightshade and him knew about. Batman had refused to tell Robin which made him suspicious since he already seemed to trust Nightshade a bit too much.

"Just now," answered Robin, "I see you got Red Tornado doing your dirty work," said Robin looking at the him.

"He offered to help, either way I've never been good with the mechanical stuff," she answered. Before he could say anything else, Aqualad made his way towards her and without looking at him the girl handed him a USB. "That's all there is," she said.

"Are you sure?" asked Aqualad raising an eyebrow. Nightshade stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, her face told him she had felt insulted by that question.

"If you don't believe me you can check it out yourself, thought I don't think you'll find anything else since the computers might need to be replaced, along with the information," she told him and went back to reading her book. They knew what that meant, they all had a vague idea of what Nightshade could have done. Right then Wolf stepped out of Miss Martian's ship and the moment he laid eyes on Nightshade he started growling and showing his teeth. "What's with the mutated dog?" she asked stepping away from him.

"He's Wolf, he had never done this before," said Superboy trying to calm him down. Robin noticed how Nightshade had put her hand over her gun the moment Wolf had gotten close.

"His name is Wolf? How original," said the girl relaxing as Superboy moved him away from her.

"Are you afraid of Wolf, Nightshade?" asked Robin raising an eyebrow with a mocking smile across his face.

"Well, he is big enough to kill me with a single bite," she said glaring at him. The team took Wolf and let Nightshade get back to her book, but Superboy stayed behind and tried to read the title of the book she had in her hand. The girl noticed him staring and let out a small laugh. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Though it might not be all that strange if you think about the world we live in," she said handing him the old book.

"What's it about?" he asked looking at the book cover that had two very different men in it. One of them was tall and distinguished, while the other was hunched over and had a rather disgruntled look on his face.

"You haven't read it? It's a classic," she said a little surprised, but then she remembered that he had been grown in a tube. Okay maybe that wasn't the best way to put it, she thought just as her phone went off. "Your birthday is tomorrow, huh?" she asked trying to avoid the awkward silence that had followed.

"Yeah, M'gann always throws a surprise party for me, but she doesn't know I know. Do you want to come?" he asked thinking it would be a good opportunity to bring Nightshade closer to the team, though the girl didn't look so convinced.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, they don't seem to like me much. I'll probably just ruin the mood, but if you feel like punching something I can give you an early birthday present," she said looking up from her phone to meet his gaze. Superboy looked in the direction the others had left and then he looked at Sphere who was sitting in the corner of the hangar.

"Sure, but we are taking Sphere," he said. Nightshade looked at the metallic ball that came rolling their way. She didn't quite understand until it turned into a large bike, "it's called the Super Cycle," he said proudly.

"Of course it is," she said rolling her eyes under the mask, "please tell me this thing goes by land," she said looking at Superboy who then shook his head slowly. Before Nightshade could protest, he picked her up and placed her in the passenger seat and took off so that she wouldn't be able to get out.

"Care to tell me where we're going?" he asked.

"Ri—right, I forgot to tell you. San Diego Mission Beach, looks like King Shark decided to step out of the water," she said just as Sphere started moving away from Mount Justice. "At this time I don't expect there to be a lot of people at the beach, but it would be better to keep King Shark away from the surrounding areas," she told him holding onto Sphere really tight. Superboy noticed and let out a small laugh, the way she clutched onto Sphere was turning her knuckles white. Her fear of heights was obvious, and he couldn't help but wonder where it had come from, or why it was so strong, but for now it was entertaining.

"I've been wondering; how do you always know when there's trouble?" he asked, "I mean, the Justice League knows because they have a giant satellite in orbit, but I don't think you have one," he said looking at back at the girl.

"I had a friend program my phone to receive any police communication anywhere in the globe. Of course it filters them by distance and level of importance. That's really all I understand, I spaced out when he was explaining how it worked," she told him. Honestly he was impressed, he didn't know Nightshade was so committed to the superhero thing, after all she didn't look, or acted like it. As they got closer to the San Diego beach, they could hear the people screaming. Superboy leaned over to look at the ground since Nightshade wouldn't, and saw that they were running away from King Shark as he got closer to the shops in the boardwalk.

Superboy lowered sphere to the ground and landed it between King Shark and a group of terrorized civilians. "Hello ugly," he said jumping off and punching him in the face. This hit sent King Shark back to the beach, and Superboy jumped towards him. Nightshade got off and followed Superboy further into the beach to see where he and King Shark had landed. They were in the middle of the beach hitting each other when Nightshade arrived.

"Is that all you have, Super Kid?" asked King Shark hitting Superboy in the face. After he was thrown away Nightshade stepped in and with her sword she managed to stab King Shark in the back.

"Not really," she said taking the sword out and letting the blood drip onto the sand. The girl got ready to attack again, she managed to land another hit just as King Shark grabbed her and tried to rip her head off with his mouth. She dodged him, and took out a knife, stabbing his hand forcing him to let go of her. Once she was on the ground King Shark threw a punch at her, but Superboy caught his fist before he could hit Nightshade and pushed him back. "I had him," she said.

"Of course," he answered moving closer to King Shark.

"I said I had him," said the girl picking up her sword and walking behind Superboy.

"I believe you," he told her waiting for King Shark to get up. He tried to attack them, but they moved out of the way before he could touch them. Superboy then attacked him from the right and Nightshade kicked him on the side of the head. King Shark fell to the ground right in front of them, but they waited a few seconds to make sure that he was actually knocked down. "So you had him, huh?" asked Superboy looking at Nightshade. The girl glared at him and started to walk away when King Shark grabbed her foot and threw her into the ocean, she fell into the water only to resurface a few seconds later to see Superboy being thrown her way. Nightshade sank back into the water to avoid Superboy and started swimming back to the shore without worrying about him.

"Should have brought Aqualad," she said looking back at a completely soaked Superboy; the good thing about that, was that both of them now looked furious. Nightshade took out her sword and charged at him at the same time that Superboy leaped towards King Shark. Superboy reached him first and managed to land a powerful punch across his face while Nightshade slashed him across the chest.

"Don't make me hate sharks as much as I hate monkeys!" said Superboy punching him a few more times. Both teens moved away from King Shark now almost certain that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

"You hate monkeys?" she asked raising an eyebrow. Superboy looked at Nightshade, she had blood splatters on her suit, but the girl didn't seem to mind, she looked rather used to it, he thought. The moment he lifted his gaze from her, he saw something approaching them in the distance so he tried to move Nightshade out of the way, but the girl still managed to get cut. It was a small cut in her arm, but it still made her wince.

The sharp piece of metal that had cut her, landed right next to Nightshade. They looked in the direction it had come from and saw a large monster, his body was covered in sharp pieces of metal, which he shot out once again, this time really aiming at them.

"Ugly brought a friend?" asked Superboy looking at the new villain that had appeared in front of them.

"What are these two doing together?" she asked dodging the pieces of metal.

"You know him?" he asked trying to get close to the monster.

"That's Shrapnel, a real pain in the ass. You can't cut him. I mean you can, but he just regenerates," she said using her sword to redirect the projectiles he was throwing out of his body. Superboy managed to get close enough to hit him, which made him stumble back a little. In that moment Nightshade stepped in and cut off his arm that slowly started to grow back. "See? He's annoying. At least we don't have to deal with him and the shark," she said.

Shrapnel Threw more pieces of glass at them that just bounced off Superboy, but cut Nightshade's suit. Superboy covered her and then moved her out of the way which allowed him to throw Shrapnel down on the ground. Immediately after that, King Shark got up from the ground and made his way towards the group. Growling, he grabbed Nightshade and dove into the water with her. The girl punched him and tried to swim to the surface, but he dragged her back down. Nightshade was trying to hold her breath just long enough to kick him away, and somehow, she managed to swim away from him. She later ran up to where Superboy was and moved him away from Shrapnel.

"Switch with me," she said pulling him back just in time for him to block an attack from King Shark.

"What the hell?" he asked right before King Shark grabbed him.

"I'll make it up to you if you're still alive," she said watching Superboy get thrown into the ocean by King Shark. "Sorry!" she yelled as King Shark dove in after him. Shrapnel took the chance to attack Nightshade, but she moved out of the way just before he could hit her. She got ready to attack, but instead, Sphere attacked Shrapnel from behind. "Good ball. I was starting to wonder if you did anything else. Go help Superboy while I deal with Shrapnel," said Nightshade.

The monster got back up and Nightshade waited for him to make the first move. He raised his arms to smash her, but she moved out of the way before he could hit her, she waited for him to be right next to her, and took out her gun. The girl found an opening and shot him. Shrapnel shrieked and fell to the ground where Nightshade took the chance to stab him in the head with her sword, but had to leave it there so that he wouldn't get back up.

"Great, there goes my favorite sword," she said.

Meanwhile, Superboy struggled with King Shark as he was being dragged deeper into the ocean. He tried punching him, but underwater King Shark was much faster than him. Superboy was running out of breath, but then Sphere showed up and started hitting King Shark. Sphere was followed by Nightshade who grabbed Superboy and swam with him back to the surface. The two of them looked at the ocean waiting for Sphere to emerge and when it finally did, they let out a sigh of relief, or at least Superboy did while Nightshade checked her phone again.

"Wow look at that, it's already past midnight. Happy birthday, Superboy" she said patting him in the back as she got up from the ground. After waiting for a while, Sphere got ready for takeoff causing Nightshade to have an uneasy look in her face. "Listen, I know it's your birthday and all, but is there any way to go back to the cave by land?" she asked looking at Sphere.

"Just get on," he told her lifting her up and placing her in the back seat of the Super Cycle.

Mount Justice- March 21- 4:40 P.M-

The next day Nightshade walked into the cave, she made her way towards the lounge where the team was supposed to be getting ready for the surprise party, but she found the place only half decorated. There were some paper lanterns in the ceiling and some still on the floor, an open pack of hanging swirls and some tape. They were still working on it and it seemed they had started late.

"Hey" said nightshade not really waiting for an answer which is why she was caught off guard when Rocket, Artemis and Kid Flash answered. Rocket even walked up to her. "how's it going?" she asked.

"Good, but we could use a hand," she said handing Nightshade a paper string. "I'll get you a ladder," she said and walked away. Nightshade quietly agreed and sat on top of the ladder sticking the strings and the balloons to the ceiling for a while until she received a call.

"Talk," she said balancing the phone on her shoulder while pressing it against her ear. Robin stopped what he was doing and started listening into her conversation. The voice on the other side sounded like a male's voice, but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying. "Now? Can't she do it? I'm kind of in the middle of something. Fine. Give me five" she said and slowly got off the ladder.

"You're leaving?" asked Robin looking up at her. The girl nodded and then walked up to Rocket and handed her a wrapped present. After she left, the team continued decorating the room for Superboy's party and managed to finish just before Miss Martian brought him back to the cave. As soon as they walked in the others greeted them with a cake and some presents. Superboy looked around, he was searching for Nightshade, but instead he found a present on the table. He took it and looked for a name, and when he didn't find one, Rocket walked up to him.

"Nightshade dropped it off in the afternoon. She left it in case she wouldn't be able to make it, guess it was a good call," said Rocket placing a hand on his shoulder, before walking back to the cake. Superboy smiled as he ripped the paper to see a copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde along with a note that read: 'In case you need another strange thing in your life.'

"Can we save a slice for Nightshade?" he asked walking towards them to make sure Kid Flash didn't finish it on his own.

Manhattan, New York City- March 21- 9:40 P.M-

Jade made it back into her apartment after stopping a robbery downtown. As soon as she opened the door she found Lance standing in the kitchen pouring some coffee into a mug.

"So you took Superboy with you, huh?" he asked before taking a sip.

"Yeah, I actually had fun for once," she answered while opening the fridge. "I was actually thinking of going to that surprise party, but I'm already late," she continued as she poured juice in a glass.

"Jade, I think you are losing the point of the mission. We need to get that USB back or its game over for the four of us," he reminded her. Jade set the glass on the counter without lifting her eyes to meet his. She knew what she was doing, she knew what would happen if she failed, she didn't need him to remind her of that. Lance walked up to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just worried about you, about us," he said, the girl lifted her face and stared back at him with her dark eyes that made him lean in, but just before their lips could touch the front door flung open forcing them apart.

A black-haired girl stepped into the room turning her head to look at the couple that had pulled away so fast they had ended up in awkward positions. Jade was facing the sink giving her back to Lance and he was trying to clean up the mess he had made after his elbow bumped a glass. "Do you need me to walk back out or something?" she asked, her green eyes landing on Jade who tensed up even more drawing out a smile from her lips.

"No. How was the mission, Camille?" she asked turning to face her.

"Easy, you know since you only let me have the kiddy missions while you handle the good ones," she answered erasing the smile from her own face, "where's Skye?"

"My sister almost blew up the communication system again, so I sent her to her room to calm down," answered Lance. As soon as she heard that, Jade made her way towards Skye's room that was right next to hers and knocked on the door a couple of time before Skye let her in. The other two watched her disappear into the room before Camille turned around to face Lance.

"So, what were you about to do?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know what I was about to do," he answered.

"You really need to get over your little crush, you more than anyone knows Jade is incapable of feeling anything like that for other people," she explained while pouring coffee into a clean mug. "After all, she was raised to be an emotionless killing machine," she reminded him.

"I know that, but lately she just seems different somehow," he said taking the mug away from Camille and taking a sip, "thanks, I dropped mine."