Qurac
February 19
"Investigating the origin of the bomb that destroyed the Krolotean invasion force is still a top priority," Nightwing told the girls. The girls were on the bioship, heading towards Bialya, while Nightwing was debriefing them from the cave. "We suspect that the bomb may have been smuggled to Earth by means of a boom tube. The Watchtower sensor scans detected that Bialya has had an increase in boom tube activity. Alpha squad, your mission is to-"
"Sneak behind enemy lines, stake out known boom tube hotspots and find alien tech matching the bomb!" Cassie interrupted excitedly. She pressed the 'W's on her shirt and her costume entered stealth mode. "Oh, and don't get caught or create an international incident, right?"
"Yep. That about covers it," Nightwing smiled.
"Nice job girl," Sakura praised. Cassie smiled and beamed proudly.
"Psimon?" M'gann asked, her eyes narrowing.
"We have confirmation that Bialya's telepathic enforcer is still catatonic in a hospital in Qurac," Nightwing informed her. "From his last encounter with you," he added. Sakura let out a low whistle.
"You left that guy in a catatonic state for over five years?" Sakura gasped, looking at the Martian. M'gann shrugged sheepishly, looking away. "Remind me not to get on your bad side." Nightwing cleared his throat and Sakura turned around, smiling nervously.
"Sorry Birdie…first time out in a while. Continue," she chuckled weakly. Nightwing smirked and the girls could tell that he rolled his eyes under his mask.
"Bialya's dictator Queen Bee is another story," he said, snapping back into serious mode. "Her ability to control all men is the reason why Alpha squad is an all female squad for this mission." Sakura and Barbra glanced at each other with knowing smirks and looked back at him.
"Is that so?" Sakura hummed, leaning forward with a devilish smirk.
"Tell me, would you have felt the need to justify an all male squad for a given mission?" Barbra smirked. The other girls blinked before glaring at him. Nightwing's jaw dropped a little and he looked away nervously.
"Um…the…there's no right answer for that…is there…" Nightwing stuttered trying to regain his train of thought.
"No there isn't," Barbra smiled.
"You are in so much trouble when I get back," Sakura laughed.
"N-Nightwing out," he said quickly cutting off the transmission.
"Queen Bee isn't the only woman that knows how to mess with a man's mind," Barbra boasted. The other girls laughed and Barbra soon joined in, creating a light and airy atmosphere.
"But I wasn't kidding," Sakura commented. "He will be in trouble once we get back."
"What are you going to do?" Karen asked.
"Simple, I'm going to have him on his knees begging for forgiveness," Sakura smirked.
"That I gotta see," Barbra laughed.
"You might not want to," Sakura smirked. "My method might be…unsuitable for viewing audiences."
"Wow you are a pervert!" Barbra laughed.
Bialya
February 20
The girls looked over the ridge of the sand dune, observing the base. "All the other boom tube hotspots have been busts…but…"
"But this much security must be protecting some big deal alien stuff, right?" Wonder Girl asked, interrupting Batgirl.
"We don't know that for sure, but it is a pretty safe bet," Kunoichi told her.
"Our job is to find out why there's so much security," Miss Martian stated. "Batgirl, you take the south hangar, I'll take the North, Bee, the middle. Kunoichi, choose whichever you'd like."
"I'll go with Batgirl," Kunoichi answered. "Bats gotta stick together."
"Alright, Wonder Girl, you hold position," Miss Martian ordered.
"What?" Wonder Girl gasped through the mind link. "Why can't I go in?"
"Because you're 'Wonder Girl' honey," Bee answered. "If you were Stealther Girl then you could go in."
"But I can do this!" Wonder Girl insisted.
"No one is denying your enthusiasm, Cass, but we need to be quiet. If we were in a fire fight, there's no one I'd rather have beside me," Batgirl told her.
"But we're trying to avoid a fight, and we need a lookout," Miss Martian said. "Use the psychic link at all time. The Bialyans have the tech to intercept our radios. If all goes wrong we scatter and meet and the rendezvous point. Clear?"
"Clear!" Batgirl, Kunoichi, and Bumblebee nodded. The four looked at Wonder Girl who sighed.
"Clear," she whispered. With that the four girls left silently. "Oh! I mean, clear!" Sakura looked over at Batgirl and smirked, knowing that Wonder Girl had just noticed they were gone. The two girls ducked behind a few barrels.
"Uh Kunoichi…" Batgirl whispered, tugging on her own suit. Sakura looked down and noticed that her costume was still colorful. She pressed the metal insignia on her obi and the dark pink turned black while the gold obi and strings became grey. The rope that held the metal insignia turned to a darker red.
"Let's go," Sakura ordered, placing her hands on the wall. Batgirl nodded and took out her grappling hook, shooting it over the top of the building. While the red head used the hook to run up the wall, Sakura pumped chakra into her feet and ran up silently. The two touched down on the roof at the same time. While Batgirl put away her grappling hook Sakura took the cover off of a protruding vent. The two girls climbed into the vent and crawled downwards into the warehouse, with Batgirl in the lead.
The two girls froze in the vents as they heard an alarm going off.
"Miss Martian? What's going on?" Kunoichi asked, only to get no response.
"I can't contact Miss Martian," both girls told the other. They blinked before chuckling lightly.
"I guess bats really do think alike," Batgirl smiled.
"Yeah, now we just have to figure out what's going on," Kunoichi sighed, crawling forward. There was a small gasp and the pinkette blinked trying to look over Batgirl's shoulder.
"Girl, you look like turkey stuffing on Thanksgiving," Bumblebee laughed quietly. The ninja snorted, trying to stifle her laughter.
"Thank you, that's very helpful," Batgirl grumbled.
"So this was y'all's escape route?" Bumblebee asked in disbelief, gesturing to the cramped vent.
"No, we were already in here when the alarm went off and the link came down," Batgirl huffed.
"Bee, what happened?" Kunoichi asked.
"No idea. We should get to the rendezvous point and find out. But we can't go through the hangars, they're sealed up tight," Bee sighed. Batgirl grunted and reached into her utility belt, slowly and painfully bringing a device in front of her.
"I've scanned the air shafts. They connect all three hangars together but they also seem to connect to a large chamber 20 meters below us," Batgirl told them.
"Well then, let's go," Kunoichi muttered.
Bee flew out of the vent and looked around before giving the two girls the go ahead. Kunoichi flipped out of the air shaft. They stepped up and took in the large chamber. It looked like an ancient chamber used for rituals. There were hieroglyphics on the wall, crumbled pillars. Along one wall was a few high tech computers with Bialyan soldiers stationed there.
"Can you say Temple of Doom?" Bee muttered in awe. "This place must be thousands of years old. What do you make of it?"
"It reminds me of the extraction chamber that the Akatsuki used to take demons out of their host bodies," the pinkette whispered.
"What do you think Batgirl?" Bee asked, gaining no response.
"She's already gone," Kunoichi told the bee. The shinobi scaled the rocky walls and hid herself among the stalactite. She jumped from hanging rock to hanging rock, silently following Batgirl. Bee kept up and they watched as the red head crouched next to some capsules.
"They're filled with children," Bee whispered in horror. Batgirl turned around to look at the capsules, stepping back when she noticed the same thing.
"Psimon," Kunoichi hissed lowly, watching the telepath brain blast Batgirl.
"Put her with the others," Psimon ordered with a smirk.
"Are you serious?" Icicle Jr. said as Mammoth dragged Batgirl by her cape. "The rest of these kids are runaways and strays, they won't be missed. But she's a bat brat! What do you think will happen when people discover that she's gone?"
"Batman himself is out of the picture. And if anyone else misses her well…" Psimon chuckled. "Psimon says he just doesn't care." Devastation threw an arm around Psimon pulling him close.
"Psimon…I like the way that pretty brain of yours…thinks," she all but purred. Kunoichi bit her tongue to suppress the gag that rose in her throat.
"Thank you Devastation," Psimon said. "Now help Mammoth load the cargo, 'bat brat' included, onto the plane. Shimmer prepare for takeoff and go upstairs to confirm the flight plan. I want this bird in the air in ten minutes." The two muscled villains wheeled the cargo onto the pain while Shimmer opened the hatch.
"There's our exit," Be whispered to the pinkette. Kunoichi nodded and silently jumped to the edge of the cave.
"It's been too long," Wonder Girl panicked. "Something's happened to Bee and Batgirl, and Kunoichi and its all my fault! If I hadn't of gotten spotted we wouldn't be in this mess! Nightwing's gonna punish me big time if he finds out about this!"
"Cassie, calm down," Miss Martian said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Every mission can take an unexpected turn. We recover and adapt, that's rule one."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Bee smiled, flying over to them. Kunoichi flipped over a sand dune and landed next to them.
"Bee! Kunoichi! You guys are alive!" The blonde gasped. Since Bumblebee was shrunken Wonder Girl attached herself to Kunoichi, giving her a hug. "Oh! Nightwing isn't going to kill me for getting you captured and possibly killed!"
"Was that really in doubt?" Bee grumbled, placing her tiny hands on her hips.
"Wonder Girl…you can let me go now…" Kunoichi said, trying to push her away. The younger girl gasped and let go of the pinkette. "And Nightwing wouldn't kill you for getting me in trouble. I do that enough on my own."
"Have you seen Batgirl?" Miss Martian asked.
"Yes, she's been captured. There's no time to lose. We'll brief you both on the way," Bee nodded. "I have a plan."
"You didn't tell me about any plan," Kunoichi muttered.
"Yeah well, you were sticking to the ceiling, in plain sight, trying to stay out of sight. I didn't want to accidentally bring attention to you," Bee pointed out.
"That is true," Sakura nodded.
Sakura stood at the edge of the hatch, crouched and ready. While she was under the opening Wonder Girl flew above it. They secretly watched the plane take off, flying towards them. At the same time the hatch doors began to close.
"Go time!" Kunoichi told the blonde. They both placed their hands out, stopping the hatch in its place. The doors groaned and struggled against the force. Wonder Girl pushed more strength into her grip and tore the doors off, much to the surprise of Kunoichi. She righted herself before she lost her footing on the rocky canyon wall.
"Alpha! A little help here please!" Batgirl shouted through the comm. link. Wonder Girl grabbed Sakura and flew them to the plan.
"Devastation!" Wonder Girl shouted, catching the woman's attention. She flew towards her and tossed Sakura who kicked the muscled woman in the face, pushing her back.
"Stay away from my sister!" Kunoichi shouted. Devastation fell back and gripped the wing, trying to hang onto the plane. Mammoth jumped onboard, smiling viciously at them. "Oh! Dibs on Mammoth!" Kunoichi called.
"All yours!" Wonder girl smiled, waving her arms forward in a mock bow. "I want a rematch with Devastation anyway." Kunoichi smirked and ran forward, pulling her arm back. Mammoth growled and caught her punch. Kunoichi growled and swung her other fist only to have it caught as well. The monster smirked at her, only to have the ninja smirk right back. The pinkette flipped over him and crossed her arms. Mammoth fell, his arms crossed. The pinkette pulled her arms out of his grip just at Devastation slammed into Mammoth. Wonder Girl flew over to Kunoichi and they both looked down at them with grins.
"You may have gone toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman, but we've trained with her," Wonder Girl boasted.
"This fight was over before it even began," Kunoichi told them. They both pulled back their arms and punched them off the wing of the plane. Miss Martian and Bumblebee caught up with them, flying beside Wonder Girl.
"We did it!" the blonde cheered. The three landed on the plane beside Kunoichi just as a machine was thrown at the plane, tearing off the wing. Kunoichi gasped and gripped onto the plane as the other three girls were thrown off. The plane swerved and hit the rock wall, tearing off the other wing as well. The wingless jet slid out of the hangar, falling to the ground below. Wonder Girl rushed past them, grabbing the nose of the plane and trying to make it stop.
"It's too heavy!" She shouted.
"For me too!" Miss Martian agreed. "Kunoichi!"
"Don't look at me! I'm a sitting duck!" The shinobi shouted, as her chakra slipped and she slid back a few inches. "See!?"
"Time for plan B!" Miss Martian declared. The bioship flew up to the plane and created a claw to grab the ship. The bioship forced it into a curve, flying it to safety as the other wing fell to the ground, exploding.
"Alright!" Sakura cheered.
"Woohoo! Yes!" Wonder Girl laughed into the night. She let go of her hold on the plane and flew over to Kunoichi, grabbing her. "That was awesome!"
"It certainly was," the pinkette agreed.
Mount Justice
February 20
"Psimon planted mental suggestions into his doctors and nurses months ago," Nightwing sighed. "They've been tending to an empty hospital bed all this time. I'm sorry."
"It was bound to happen eventually," M'gann sighed.
"So, there was no sign of alien tech?" Nightwing questioned.
"None, but what we found was strange enough," Bumblebee answered.
"It was clear to Shimmer that Queen Bee was acting like a middle man, delivering abducted humans to an unknown partner," M'gann informed him.
"We questioned all the abductees and most of them were runaways or orphans," Sakura told him. "They were taken after the explosion on Malina Island that destroyed it and the Kroloteans," Batgirl continued.
"So, if the Bialyans aren't kidnapping humans for the Kroloteans, then who is this unknown partner?" Nightwing questioned.
"Another unanswered question," Cassie huffed, holding onto her arm.
"New questions are what keep an investigation going forward," Nightwing said, stepping up to her. "You saved lives and got each other home safe. That's a successful mission in my book. Good work Alpha." Batgirl smiled and wrapped an arm around Cassie, pulling her close.
"Speaking of Alpha," Sakura smirked, turning to Nightwing. The other girls instantly recognized the look in her eyes and giggled. "You, sir, are still in trouble for trying to justify an all female squad. What do you have to say for yourself?" Nightwing gulped quietly and took a step back.
"Uh…I have to say…sorry…?" Nightwing answered nervously.
"That sounded almost like a question," Sakura informed him.
"Luckily for him, his punishment will have to wait," Batgirl commented.
"Aw? Why? This was getting good," Cassie pouted.
"Yeah, why ya stopping her?" Bumblebee asked.
"Because, before the mission I wanted to talk to Sakura about the case we're working on, I think I might have found something," Batgirl answered.
"You did?" Sakura gasped, running over to her.
"Yeah, follow me," Batgirl nodded. The pinkette followed the redhead to the zeta beams.
Recognized Batgirl
Recognized Kunoichi
Batcave
"So, what did you find?" Sakura asked. The two girls sat down at a table, and looked at the contract.
"Well, it wasn't much," Barbra hummed. "But remember the part where it was to say that you belonged to Hiroki's family if your parents were to die before the wedding?"
"Yeah," Sakura nodded, turning to the page.
"Well, I looked at some old hidden village laws regarding marriage contracts such as these, and it said that if one party did not know about the marriage before their parents death, and are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, they don't belong to the other family. You're your own person," Barbra explained.
"Well it isn't much…but it's something, at least now I can get them off my back," Sakura sighed, flipping through it. "Hiroki's parents called me last night, told me that they wanted me 'home' and treated me as if I was their daughter. At least I can legally make them stop that."
"Sorry I couldn't find anymore," Barbra apologized.
"Its fine, you're doing your best," Sakura sighed. "This is just an extremely tight contract. We'll find a way out eventually."
"Yeah, I just hope its sooner rather than later," Barbra agreed.