Hello, ModernDayBard here with this week's chapter! As always, I don't own Young Justice or its associated characters. But I do have my oc's and the idea for this plot, so if you steal them, I will set Moony, Black Fang, AND Morwinn on you. You have been warned!

After bidding farewell to Kid Flash and regrouping with the rest of Alpha, Nicole followed her squad to the Watchtower. This time, upon arriving at the Watchtower's 'mission control room', she was not surprised to see Nightwing standing there, working next Aqualad. Now that she knew what the mission meant to the detective, she understood why he put in the hours that he did, but still, the redhead privately wondered when the poor guy actually slept—or if he did at all.

For once, he nodded pleasantly at her in greeting, the barest hint of a smile evident beneath the exhaustion and stress in his expression. Still, he wasted no time in getting down to business. "Alpha squad," he called, "new mission. We have a new lead on our primary case—we're tracking a confirmed member who's pretty high up the chain of command, possibly even the leader's right-hand. She can manipulate shadows and darkness, and, from what we've heard, she calls herself 'Black Fang'. She's likely the one who broke 'Moony' out, given her powers. It's time to bring her in."

Alpha squad sprang into action, getting further instructions from their leaders, entering tracking information into the Bioship's system, and settling on a capture strategy. Black Fang was currently in Bludhaven, and Nightwing was helping them make a plan that used the twisting alleyways to their advantage. The plan was to have Beast Boy and Miss Martian deploy first, tracking and herding the target, using their shape-shifting abilities to block her escape, and force her into a dead-end alley way, where Superboy and Ember would be waiting to capture her.

This time, the flight on the bio-ship was less silent, as the four members of Alpha discussed the strategy, as well as the possible implications of the latest development. Just as Nicole and Gar were getting caught up in a discussion of how to keep Black Fang from escaping once she was captured and brought back for questioning, Connor announced, "It's time to split up. M'Gann, you and Gar are up."

The two shapeshifters deployed, and Connor took over the helm of the Bioship and maneuvered the small craft to the area where he and Ember were to wait, still in camo mode. The two were forced to wait in hiding, following the chase via the mind-link Miss M had established. Nicole was tense, but things seemed to be going well...until they unexpectedly lost her, that is.

The teen could feel the others' desperation—courtesy, again, of the psychic link—as they carefully yet frantically searched for signs of their quarry. After an agonizing few minutes, and just before Superboy gave the order to call the mission a failure, Beast Boy calls silently: *Got her! Get in position, guys; she's almost there!*

Superboy glanced at the girl behind him, and the two stood in unison, silently exiting the Bioship and moving through the shadows to their respective positions on opposite sides of the cul-de-sac. Nicole was nervous, since it would be her job to block Black Fang's retreat when the confrontation began.

Just as the two were in position, the fleeing figure entered the trap. Right on cue, the entry ways were blocked by Miss M and Gar, who was in his gorilla-form. Superboy appeared in front of the target, leaving Black Fang only one way to run—right towards Ember.

Taking a deep breath, the flame-wielder stepped from hiding and faced down the black-cloaked figure of a girl a few years older than herself. Her black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and when she turned to face Ember, her eyes blazed silver. Rather than show fear, Black Fang grinned, exposing a single (fang which the cynical part of Nicole's mind noted was actually a normal shade of white, with not a touch of black on it).

Then the strange girl thrust out her right hand, and a shadowy sword formed in her grip. Once it was complete, the vampiric figure charged Ember. Instinctively, Nicole formed a shield of fire to block the attack, but Black Fang feinted at the last moment, and her dark blade barely made contact with the redhead's left hip—which she'd injured after falling out of a tree years before, when she was almost ten. The injury hadn't bothered her in years, but all of a sudden, the pain flared up again like the accident had just happened, and Nicole collapsed, biting her lip to try to keep from screaming. As Black Fang ran past, making her escape, Ember tried to blast her with a fireball, but her aim was off, and the target vanished into the night.

* Maybe her power is sensing and re-aggravating old injuries? That could make her hard to fight.*

As embarrassed as she felt about the mistake, the others did not have time to comment on her failing. "Quick!" Superboy called out. "Split up and cut her off—we can't let her get away!"

Everyone nodded and took off running, fanning out as they recalled the different routes Nightwing had briefed them on before they embarked on the mission. The pain in her hip now faded, Nicole scrambled to her feet and began to run at full speed. *Okay, Nicole,* the teen thought to herself, carefully blocking her personal pep-talk from the psychic link, *we're facing someone who prefers swords, apparently. Plan your fighting style accordingly.*

M'Gann was the first to get close to their quarry, but Black Fang simply opened a portal of darkness and teleported several alleys away, leaving the Martian completely turned around. Beastboy was next (still in gorilla form), but again, the strange girl showed no fear, only taking a few seconds to open a hole of darkness under his feet and temporarily trap him before racing on. Superboy didn't fare much better, and soon, it was just Nicole face-to-face with the mysterious figure, the only one able to rescue the mission that was heading quickly for a crash-and-burn.

For some reason, Black Fang seemed to wait for Ember, stopping just short of the edge of the city. Desperate to distract her from escape, and hoping to rattle the so-far unflappable criminal, Nicole called out: "So your buddy was a werewolf. What're you supposed to be: the boogey man?"

The taunt apparently worked, and the older girl whirled on the flame-wielder, shadowy sword raised. This time, Nicole was somewhat ready for her, and managed to stretch the fight to several seconds. Still, it became frighteningly clear that Black Fang was familiar with the young hero's fighting style, and seemed to be able to anticipate her various moves. Moments later, with a quick flourish, she got under Ember's guard and then behind her, slamming the back of Nicole's head with the surprisingly solid hilt of her sword-of-shadows, and the surprised girl lost consciousness.

When Nicole woke up, she was on the Bioship, and she could tell from the grim looks on the faces of the others that Black Fang had gotten away after all. When she tried to sit up, or at least roll on to her back (she'd woken up lying on her right side), M'Gann stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Take it slowly, Nicole. She got you pretty badly. I'm still trying to wash the blood off."

Ember froze at that, imaging Marji's reaction when she arrived at home. "How much blood are we talking about?"

"It looks worse than it is," Connor replied, just moving into her line of sight. "Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, but even considering that, it's not that bad. M'Gann just wanted to get it cleaned up before it clotted or anything. Anyway, we're almost back at the Watchtower."

Those seven words served as a reminder of the reason behind the somber mood on the Martian craft. Alpha squad, with two of the most experienced Team members, not to mention some of it's more promising potential, had utterly failed in their mission, which had been one of their few chances to get intel regarding their mysterious enemies and their plan. Nicole, especially, was in a sour mood as they docked and reported back. She knew the others didn't blame her, but she felt that an objective perspective would find her at fault for Black Fang's escape.

Nightwing watched her leave the mission room, ostensibly bound for home, an all-too familiar behind her eyes as she tried not to reach back and touch the still-fresh head wound. *She wasn't looking anyone in the eye when Alpha reported back,* he noted, unable to turn his mind off of 'nosy detective mode'.*You know, for someone who told me not to blame myself, I think she has trouble following her own advice. Maybe I should say something to her...*

For some reason he couldn't verbalize, that thought made him nervous as he spared one final glance at Nicole's retreating form. *Maybe some other time; she's probably tired, right now...*

Nicole was grateful that the embarrassing debriefing didn't last long, and she joined a very dispirited Alpha squad in heading for the Zeta tubes. Halfway there, she stopped, suddenly very aware that she did not feel like heading home to face Silver right at that moment. She glanced around, hoping for an excuse to stick around for a bit. She remembered that Delta was the squad currently on duty, which meant that Tigress, Kid Flash, Static, and Blue Beetle were all somewhere on the orbiting station.

Not to mention Aqualad and Nightwing,* she reminded herself, thinking of the debriefing she'd left with deep regret and shame. *Now I think I understand what Nightwing meant about feeling responsible.* Ember knew that the others wouldn't hold her solely responsible, but that did not nor could not stop her form feeling like she was, in a way.

As the redhead stood, indecisive, downcast, and still with a headache, Virgil came up to her. "Hey, Ember!" he called, but his enthusiasm seemed mixed with concern. "I heard what happened," he admitted. "How are you doing?"

"Not the best, truth be told," was her honest reply.

Static seemed to understand, and also to have noticed her reluctance to head home. "Hey, if you want to stick around for a bit, there's not much going on right now."

"Sounds good."

After a moment of silence, the younger teen ventured, "Do you want—or need—to talk about it?"

Nicole shook her head, then winced at the flare of paint he movement caused. "Not right now," she said at last, extremely grateful that he let it rest and didn't press the issue. Virgil apparently understood needing time, but not space.

"Do you skateboard, Nicole?"

The older girl caught on that her friend was offering the chance to change the mood, so she played along. "I've been meaning to learn," she fibbed, "but just never got around to it."

"If you want," he replied as expected, grin not diminishing at her response, "I can teach you."

She stared at him, asking only: "Here?"

Static grinned in response. "Hey, the fun part is improvising tricks off what's around. There are more opportunities here than you'd think. Plus, there are enough long, empty halls for a beginner to get started on." With a shrug, he summarized: "It's pretty much perfect. What do you say?"

It didn't take much thought.

"I'll give it a go."

Virgil started Nicole out with the basics—balance, forward motion, stopping, turning, and (after one almost-disaster) how to recover from a bad fall. Ember struggled at first, and knew that this was not a skill she'd take naturally to. Contrary to the available evidence, Virgil never lost his grin, and seemed to honestly mean it every time he told her: "You're actually learning very quickly!"

*Yeah, right,* was her silent retort, but she held her tongue, knowing Static was only trying to help her. Besides, hopeless or not, she was having fun.

The two took a quick break. When they came back, Static's grin had turned downright mischievous. "Well, now that you've got the basics down, it's time you learned some tricks!"

Nicole had to swallow some nerves, but she at least tried everything he asked her to. The few tricks were not too complex, but Virgil was not afraid to push his older friend, for which she was grateful. The lesson was proving to be just the distraction she needed, and she felt her initial clumsiness fading.

*I feel I've likely settled at the level of 'decently competent'* she decided at last.

After that segment of the lesson, the two heroes took a longer break to get something to drink and to catch their breath, talking and laughing about the various mistakes and tricks they'd both over the past hour.

Nicole had to smile as she mused inwardly, * Static sure knows how to stop someone from stewing.* Just then, the knot on the back of her head where she'd been struck by Black Fang's sword flared up again. Instinctively, she winced and reached back to touch it, the movement catching Virgil's attention.

Merriment giving way to worry he asked, "You okay? Has it been hurting this whole time?"

"Don't worry about it," she insisted, trying to put him at ease. "I've been hit a lot harder."

He didn't seem completely reassured, but he tried to follow the flame-wielder's lead and not dwell on it. "I guess I know the feeling," he managed at last, "for a few days after the Team sprung me from that Reach ship, some of the stuff they did to me still hurt."

"Yeah," Nicole mumbled with a nod, thinking of her own experience. "Same here."

Static blinked at her, surprised. "Nicole—you're a Reach kid, too?"

Ember could've swallowed her tongue, realizing she'd just let slip more than she ever had before—to anyone but Silver. Taking a deep breath, she said quietly, not wanting to relive the memories too much, "I think I was one of their guinea pigs, based on the timing."

With that revelation now in the open, they both fell silent, as if searching for a new topic of conversation. Before either could find one, a prodigious yawn slipped out past Nicole's guard. True to the contagious nature of yawns, Virgil yawned as well. The two exchanged a grin, the awkward tension pushed aside more-or-less from sheer willpower, relaxation and exhaustion slipping in to take its place. Static rocked back in his chair a little. "So, Ember—you feel better now?"

"Yep," Nicole responded honestly. "You were right. Thanks." It was about then that she realized how late at night it was—or rather, how early in the morning. Deciding that she couldn't keep Marji waiting any longer, she headed for the Zeta tubes, bidding farewell to Static, trying to think of how to explain the failed mission to her mentor.