Kyler Harper was sitting in her apartment, studying for an algebra test that, according to her teacher, would count for five percent of her grade. She didn't really care about her grades, but if she didn't keep her grades up, her Mom would make her give up her 'extra curricular'. However, she pretty much considered school an extra curricular, since she learned so much more with Green Arrow than she ever did with her teachers.

Austin, her little brother, opened the door, and walked in, "Kylie, have you seen my toy soldiers?"

Kyler frowned, she didn't like her nickname that had stuck with her even after Austin and learned to pronounce his 'r's. "No."

"Oh… wanna play legos with me?"

"No." She said a little firmer. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

"But… you haven't played with me in a long time. You used to play with me every day. I miss it." Austin said, looking sadly at Kyler.

"And I missed the silence in my room, before you ruined it." Kyler growled, "Leave me alone, I'm studying!"

Austin looked like he had been slapped, and he walked out of the room, looking like a kicked puppy. Kyler sighed, she hadn't been nearly as nice to every one as she should have been lately. She blamed it on her stress, but the cause of her stress was her fault.

There was a small tap on her window, and she looked up, and saw none other than her father, Red Arrow. She wanted to glare at him, to open that window, and just really tell him off. She wanted to be able to cuss him out with no regrets, and to then slam the window in his face, but right now, she just wanted to talk to him. She had been wanting to talk to him several times that month, and he seemed to know when she wanted to talk to him. The letter had been written on the same day DR had been disband. He had showed up right when she had almost died fighting that half demon thing. And right now, when she really needed to talk to someone, he was right here, at her window... still waiting for her to open it.

She got up, walking over to the window, and opening it slowly, letting him walk in. She sat down on the ground, picking up her text book again, and pretending to read it.

He sat down next to her, and read over her shoulder for a moment, "Aren't you a little old to just now be learning consecutive integers?"

"I'm a Freshman." She brushed off.

He was silent, he knew something was wrong with her, but he had no idea how to ask without sounding paranoid. "So... how's it going with DR?"

She paused for a moment, "Justin kicked me off the team."

"Why?" He asked.

"... Let's just say she caught me at a moment of weakness, and said that she only wanted hero's who have a bit more... self control and will power." Kyler said, turning a page, still not reading anything.

Roy was silent for a moment, and then asked, "What happened?"

Kyler snorted, "You don't care."

"Yes I do. You know I do." Roy corrected.

"What was this 'moment of weakness'?" He asked, prying a little, though he didn't consider it prying, this was his daughter and he had the right to know.

Kyler frowned, and then sighed, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Kyler." Roy said, not so much as a question, as an order.

Kyler gave her father a glare, "It's not important."

"Then it shouldn't be a big deal for you to tell me." He said, having no problem in playing her game.

Kyler groaned, "She caught me about to try heroin for the first time, OK? I swear, I didn't plan on it, Bo gave it to me, said it would help. I just wanted to see if it would, but I swear, I didn't try it, Justin stopped me."

Roy took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Kyler, I warned you about drugs."

"I know." Kyler mumbled.

"And you persisted to try them anyway." Roy said, opening his eyes, and glaring at her.

"I know." she said, closing her book.

"The only reason you didn't was because Justin stopped you." He accused.

"I kno-"

"Stop saying that!" He cut off.

Kyler put the book to the side, and pulled her knees to her chest, "Sorry."

Roy groaned, and put a hand on her shoulder, "Look... just... don't do it again, OK? I know you were 'just seeing if it would help' and you had no intention of doing it again, but it's very hard to stop once you start. Trust me."

"I do." Kyler said, slowly leaning on her father, and wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry Dad."

"About what?"

"For being such a jerk lately."

"You haven't been-"

"Yeah I have, I've been completely emotionless to you, I've been snapping at my friends, especially Justin, I've been disrespecting Ollie, and ignoring Austin and Olivia. Isn't that being a jerk?"

"Well... yeah, pretty much." He agreed, chuckling slightly.

"What do I do?" She asked.

"If I know Justin, which I don't, but I've dealt with people just like her, she only did what she did because she wanted to make sure you never do it again. Drugs are a very unhealthy habit. Speaking of unhealthy habits." He reached into her back pocket, and took her cigarettes, "No more smoking."

Kyler frowned, "Oh come on!"

"You heard me." He pocketed the cigarettes, and climbed out her window, and then triumphantly held up her lighter, smirking.

"Dang it." She mumbled, turning back to her forgotten algebra book.

AT DR:

Conan growled, pacing back and forth across the floor of Snow's room, hands clenched in fists of rage, a permanent death glare on her face. Snow was sitting cross legged on her bed, meditating.

"It doesn't make any since! Justin had no right to do this. Speedy was just as much of a contributor to this team as we were, sometimes even more! The last thing we needed was one less team member, but Justin disregards that fact, and fires Speedy. What's she going to do now, just go back to being Ollie's partner? No! Kyler deserves to be on this team way more than Justin does! We should march right over to Justin, and kick her off the team, and ask Kyler to be out leader." Conan turned to face snow, stopping in her pacing, "You with me?"

Snow's eyes fluttered open, and she raised an eyebrow, "Did you say something?"

Conan groaned, smacking her face. Snow chuckled, "Relax, I heard every word you said."

Conan brightened up, "You made a joke?"

Snow nodded, "How was it?"

Conan smiled, "Pretty good. Now, about Kyler?"

"Oh, yes, well as you know, as a necromancer, I can sense other's emotions with the slightest bit of effort. Justin was feeling deep regret when she spoke of Kyler. I wager there is more to this... firing then we understand. I think if we give it some time, Justin will eventually allow Kyler to rejoin the team."

Conan sighed, sitting down at the foot of the bed, "Every time Todd walks in here, I just want to grab her by the neck, and not let go until she stops kicking."

Snow smiled slightly, "Urges of homicide is usually Justin's style."

Conan shrugged, "Trust me, this is only the second time I've wanted to kill some one."

"What was the first time?" Snow asked.

Conan shrugged, "I wanted to kill Dr. Carter, the day Dad got me out of Cadmus."

"Why didn't you?" Snow asked, "It's not like any one would have blamed you, he wronged you terribly."

"If I killed him, then I would be just like him. The last thing I wanted was for him to have the pleasure of knowing that even though I broke away from him and Cadmus, he still had hold on me. Which is also why I forgave him for what he did." Conan said, picking up the human skull on Snow's bedside table.

Snow nodded, smiling slightly, "Some would say you were a coward, or a pacifist for doing that. However, sometimes it takes courage to walk away from a fight, and even the greatest warriors fight to obtain peace, not more war."

Conan smiled, "If I told Justin about my decisions, she would laugh, and say I was stupid to do that. Kyler would keep her comments to herself, but she would have killed Dr. Carter as well. It's nice to have a friend who isn't a juvenile delinquent, slightly insane, or one who had really bad anger issues."

"Who would the last one be?" Snow asked.

"Justin and Kyler." Conan said, smirking, "Justin is slightly insane as well."

"Homicidal." Snow corrected.

"Whatever. She's some version of crazy. Eventually, she'll be bunking with the Joker at Arkum." Conan said, flopping backwards, and putting her hands behind her head. Snow did likewise, taking a deep breath, and sighing contently.

Some one cleared their throat, and they looked up to see Justin standing there in her costume. She had her black Helmet tucked under one arm, the other holding the door handle. "Suit up, we've got an emergency in Star City, unless you wanna keep relaxing." She turned around, and walked off.

Conan turned to Snow, "You think she heard me say..."

Snow stood up, grabbing a wand off of her bedside table, "Who can say?"

JUSTIN'S POINT OF VEIW:

I pulled my helmet on, and slid onto my motorcycle, biting my tongue as Conan and Snow came up, ready to leave as well. I heard every word spoken in that room. I know what they thought of me, what most people think of me. I teamed up with Super Girl once, to stop Scare Crow and Penguin when they unexpectedly made an alliance, and every one knew how well that went.

FLASHBACK:

I smirked at the thug-like men tied up in front of me, Super Girl was behind me, she insisted I do the interrogations since it was 'the Bat-family's most admirable trait'. I took out my gun, and played with it a little, flipping into around in my hand while I smirked wickedly at the men in front of me. I saw a few of them shift uncomfortably, I didn't blame them, people tell me all the time that my smirk was creepy. Well, unnervingly cycotic was the term used most often.

"OK, who's going to spill the info." I shot one of them in the shoulder and he cried out in pain, falling onto his back. "And who's gonna spill the blood?"

Super Girl gasped a little, and I looked over my shoulder, raising an eyebrow, then turning back to the thugs. "Any takers?"

A few of them looked away when my gaze met them. One point for me. The man I had shot whimpered, trying not to put pressure on his shoulder. I slowly walked over, smirking down at him as I saw fear in his eyes. I smirked even more, loving that fear. I stomped down on his shoulder, hard. He screamed, cursing in his pain. My fists tightened on the gun handle, and the other one shook slightly. The feeling of people being afraid of me was thrilling, it was like I had the whole world in my hand, free to do what I pleased with it.

The others scooted away from me, and I took a batarang out of my belt, and tied one end around his legs, while I shot the other onto a lamp post, and they wound up, lifting him off the ground so he swung in mid air right in front of me. I walked up to him leisurely, and gently pressed the barrel of my gun right between his eyes.

"We're going to play a game." I said, the smirk staying right on my lips. "I'm going to ask a question, and if you don't have an answer, or you lie, I shoot you. Understand? Good."

He shut his eyes, and blurted out, "No! Please don't shoot! I don't know anything! I swear!"

"Well you shouldn't." I said, putting on a scolding look, one a Mother might give to her child. "It's not nice." I could still taste the soap Dick had shoved in my mouth this morning if I pressed my tongue to the back of my throat. Kenya and Rango had run past me, and I had stumbled, and had twisted my ankle badly, I hadn't screamed, but I had cursed... colorfully.

I don't know why I did, I hadn't cursed in months, but I cursed non the less. I really thought I had kicked that habit.

"Now, who hired you?" I asked.

"I don't know!" He lied.

I smirked, "You lied." I tightened my finger on the trigger considerably. "You remember the rules to this game, right?"

He whimpered, and I tightened my finger to the point were one twitch could kill him. I smirked. "Good bye." I said, but before I could do anything, Super Girl was in front of me, bending the barrel of my gun.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Black Hood, there are less murderous ways of gathering information." Super Girl ground out.

I frowned, and took a step back, "And there are less skimpy ways to dress." I said, looking pointedly at her short skirt.

She glared, clearly insulted, and said, "Go home, I can handle the rest of this investigation by myself."

"This is detective work." I protested. "And you aren't a detective."

"Then send Robin!" She shouted in my face, "I'd rather work with a demon child than a cycotic, trigger happy Todd."

FLASH BACK ENDS.

I frowned at the memory, I know I'm not the most sane person around, actually I'm pretty sure I have some kind of mental problem, but I wasn't going to end up in Arkum, especially not sharing a room with the guy who almost killed me.

I'll admit, there have been a few times where I've almost killed some one since becoming Black Hood, but I'm proud of the fact I haven't. I know I'm unstable, I have anger issues and urges of homicide, but I'm working on it. Kind of.

Conan grabbed Snow's shoulder's, and flew with her to Star City, while I rode on my motorcycle, dodging traffic and glaring through my helmet at the back of Conan's head.

When I pulled up in Star City, right in town square, I immediately knew what was going on. Judging by the three witches who were casting spell after spell and shooting up lights into the sky, making a northern lights right over Star City, they were doing something pretty wicked.

I smirked under my helmet, "Pass the 3D glasses and pop corn, would ya?" I asked as Conan floated down, releasing Snow.

She glared at my lack of seriousness. "Shut up and-"

Something that looked like black lightning nearly hit me, but she tackled me to the ground, pushing me out of the way. My motorcycle was not as lucky. My eyes widened, and I crawled over to the twisted heap of metal. I carefully reached down, and gently stroked what used to be the clutch. My shoulders started to shake as the witches shot out the black lightning at citizens. Conan awkwardly put a hand on my shoulder, "Sorry Black Hood."

I jerked my head towards the witches floating around, chanting their odd spells. "Oh no, you did not just reduce my bike to... to scrap metal!" I screamed, taking out my guns, and firing rapidly at the one closest to me.

She flicked the first bullet away with her finger, and then flying out of the way of the others, shooting black lightning at me. I jumped out of the way as Snow waved her wand at another witch, shooting out white energy. Super Kid flew up to meet another witch, and got knocked back by her lightning. I growled, ducking behind a car as the witch threw more at me, and another witch joined her in shooting at me. If I moved out from behind this car, I was dead. Or at least severely burned.

Suddenly, one of them cried out in pain, falling to the ground as something hit her and exploded. The other one turned to face the new threat, and I shot at her, hitting arms and legs, and making her scream, lose concentration and fall to her face. I stepped out from the car to see Speedy running to the rescue, bow loaded, aiming right behind me. I turned around to see a witch, She swooped down and grabbed me by the throat, yanking me into the air, making me drop my guns and grab onto her arm, trying to pull away.

She smirked at Speedy, "You hit me, you hit her, love."

"An Irish witch?" I questioned, gasping for air. "What's next, a black Easter bunny?" Her grip tightened, and I kicked at her, trying to loosen her hold desperately.

"Foolish humans, you know not what you do." She hissed. "This portal we have created will bring our lord Satan's demons from Hell, and he will rule over Earth as is foretold."

"Satan huh?" I grumbled, just as Speedy's arrow hit her, and electricity pulsed into her, making her scream, and drop me. "To bad I'm Catholic." I said, smirking.

Speedy raised an eyebrow, "Since when?"

"Never, it just sounded cool." I dismissed easily.

Speedy walked over to me, handing me my guns, "I think your gonna need these."

I took them, and then looked up at her, "I'm gonna need you too."

She smiled, "Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me." I said, waving her gratitude off.

"No... I know I messed up, and I never should have listened to Bo." She mumbled

I shrugged, "OK, whatever, enough with the girly sentimental crap, are you gonna fight with us or what?"

A grin spread across her face, "Let's make a big bang shall we?" She asked loading explosive arrows into her bow.

"Let's." I agreed, holding up my guns, but before I could shoot, a blur of white flashed past me, and charged at the witch who Snow was fighting, and took out a water balloon, throwing it at the witch. It popped, and the water got on the witch, making her scream in agony, her flesh burned and she fell to the ground, withering in pain. I watch speechlessly as the blur took out a cross bow, and shot a crucifix at another witch. The crucifix touched her, and she fell to the ground, powerless and Conan was able to grab her and immobilize her by tying her up with a lead pipe.

The blur stopped running as the remaining four witches all flew next to each other, and started reciting some kind of spell at made Snow gasp. The black lightning gathered itself up as the portal that resembled northern lights grew bigger, and I swear, I think I saw something on the other side of it.

I looked to the blur, to find it was a teenage boy, no older than me. He was African American, and was wearing this: .com/stories/22424962/desperte-revenge-11 (Scroll down the page until you see it.)

He took out a book, and began to read from it "הסתלק אתם שדים, מכשפות, והתכופף לעזאזל שליחיו!" של השטן! ה 'מצווה את זה!"

I frowned, was that... Hebrew, maybe?

The witches screamed in protest at the words, and flew off, and the portal in the sky slowly closed. I turned to the boy in white, and raised an eyebrow, "How did you do that?"

He smiled, "I got Big G on my side. I can do anything." He said, in a light ghetto accent. He had lived in the ghetto, born there probably, but his accent was stifled a bit. He had been educated, and his accent had slipped slightly, replaced by a new vocabulary.

I frowned and wasted no time in pointing my gun at him. "Who are you?"

"Justin!" Conan protested, "He just saved our lives! Put the gun down!"

"No he didn't." I said, tightening my grip, "Tell me your name, or I won't think twice."

He smiled slightly, "They told me you were going to be like this, they told me you were lost."

I raised an eyebrow, "Lost?"

He nodded, "You are searching for meaning. You're blind to see that you need other's help, you're blind to the fact that you need help in general."

I glared at him, "I didn't ask for therapy, I asked for a name, your name to be exact."

He smiled sadly at me, "Gabriel."

"Gabriel?" I asked, "Seriously? I was expecting something a little bit more this century."

He chuckled, "Not my idea, Justine."

My eyes widened, and I frowned, charging at him so as to knock him out, but when I jumped for him, he just disappeared. I looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of his tacky white costume, but saw none.

Speedy raised an eyebrow, "Who do you think that was?"

"Not who." I corrected, "What."

Snow walked up to me, and I turned to her, "What spell did he use just then?"

She frowned, "It wasn't a spell." She took a deep breath, "There was no magic in those words."

"Are you telling me, that he was just... talking?"

She nodded, "Yes."

I frowned, and then Conan spoke up, "You did see that book he was reading from, right?"

I looked up at her, and raised an eyebrow, "What about it?"

"The title was on the front of the book." Conan explained, "It was a Bible."

I felt something in my hand, and looked down, seeing a small piece of paper. I unfolded it, and looked at the note written on it. 'You will be in my prayers.' I bit down on my bottom lip, just hard enough to feel a sharp pain. I was in brand new territory now, dealing with a Holy Man. Justin Todd did not like being in uncharted waters.