The Hall of Justice is an enormous building, one it would take me forever to explore. Beautiful in it's own way, it stood as a tribute to peace and justice. Towering over any neighboring buildings, which were few and far between, it seemed to almost to glower at the rest of the city, daring the citizens to commit some crime under it's silent watch. It was a rather daunting building and, when I had been younger, I didn't like it. Now, however, I had grown used to it.

"Hiya Superman", I said brightly, bounding up to his side to say hello. Superman ruffled my hair.

"Your mentor here kiddo?" he asked. I nodded.

"He's coming." A moment later, Batman was in the hall. Now, things always change when Batman comes in a room. The entire aura of the place changes and you know he's around. I was used to it. In fact, I loved it. Some of the other leaguers, Green Lantern for instance, didn't.

"What took you so long?" he growled. Batman narrowed his eyes angrily, but pretended like GL didn't exist and went straight up to Superman.

"What's the situation?" he asked. Green Lantern, annoyed at being ignored, shot me a dirty look, as if it were all my fault (I'm easier to hold a grudge against because I'm smaller and less threatening), and went up to Superman in order to include himself in the conversation.

"Well…" I decided to ignore Superman, mostly because Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl were also present and I wanted to go say hello.

"Hi guys", I exclaimed excitedly, "What's up?" Speedy shrugged.

"Something with Gorilla Grod. I don't know why we were brought along though."

'Maybe they need us", Aqualad said hopefully. I shrugged.

"Batman usually brings me either way." I think he does it just to piss GL off. Wonder Girl grinned.

"It certainly does."

"Hey", Aqualad said, "When are we gonna have another Titans meeting. I look foreward to those." They all gazed expectantly at me because I was normally the one that called the meetings, but I just shrugged.

"I haven't had a lot of time lately, sorry guys. But, how's about we get together sometime this week."

"Ok", they all replied. Now, titans meetings are not like Justice League meetings. See, sometimes, we cruise around looking for a crime to fight, but a lot of the time, we just hang out, throw things at each other, eat ad play video games, you know, normal teenage stuff.

"We can do something fun", KF said.

"Not eating", the rest of us replied in unison. KF rolled his eyes. Right at that moment, Batman called me over. I bounded up like a puppy and faced them.

"Alright", Batman said, "We have to take out Gorilla Grod. Because you weren't paying attention, I'm going to give you a quick briefing now. Gorilla Grod is on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.

Now, he's holed up there with an army and several hostages. We can't commit to a frontal assault because of the hostages so what I want is for you Robin, and your team to go through the back of the island and free the hostages, get them to a safe place, and get back to help us fight the rest of Grod's gorilla army. We'll be creating a kind of distraction." I nodded.

"Sounds good to me. How're we gonna get the people off the island?"

"There'll be a boat", Batman replied, "try to get them as far as possible before coming back and radio from the boat when you're a safe distance from shore." I could see the troubled look in Batman's eyes. He didn't particularly want me to come back and I knew nothing would please him more than for me to just stay away and let him take on Grod, but nothing could keep me from his side and he knew that.

"Everyone good?" I asked my team. They all nodded exuberantly, pleased to have a chance to work with the Justice League. We didn't often get to work side by side with them, well, no members other than our mentors anyway, and everyone reveled in the chance to show off.

"Alright", Batman said, "Robin, take the sub and be careful." I nodded and bounded off to get the spare sub kept in the Hall.

"He looked worried", Wonder Girl said, striding next to me. I nodded.

"It'll be fine though, you riding in the sub with me?"

"Yea", she affirmed, "so's KF probably and Speedy, unless there's an arrow sub." I grinned and turned to Speedy.

"Not as far as I know", he replied. I giggled.

"Arrow'll have one soon enough. He always copies off Batman."

"Yea", KF agreed, "Did you see the look on his face when Batman mentioned "the sub"."

"Alright, alright guys", Speedy said, "lets just go." The others and I grinned wickedly at each other, for the topic was in no way closed, and trotted down to the sub. Aqualad leapt into the water, submerging.

"I'll swim alongside", he said. I nodded and started up the sub. Flipping a few switches, I instructed her to dive and silently, she slipped beneath the waves, headed downward. Soon enough, we were cruising along the bottom of the ocean.

KF started to fidget, never a big fan of being underwater, but I just relaxed and piloted, grinning at Aqualad as he slid smoothly by through the water. Sometimes, I envied him being able to so effortlessly slip between two worlds, the water and the land.

In fact, I envied pretty much all my super powered friends. I wished I could fly like Wonder Girl, run like KF, swim like Aqualad, lift things like Superman, shape shift like Martian Manhunter or even stretch like Plastic Man. I mean, I was so grateful for what I did have and could do, which was a lot, but sometimes I thought it might be nice not to have to train quite as hard as I did.

I worked my butt off to do what I did and if I didn't I would sink into that place where normal humans are. I had never voiced such things to Batman. Somehow, wishing to be more than what he could ever achieve felt wrong and I always felt guilty entertaining such thoughts.

I wondered if he ever did, you know, wish he was more than what he was. Batman is, by far, the most amazing creature I've ever met but he's still only human. Shaking my head to ward off those thoughts, since I really did have to stay focused, I urged the sub off through the sea.

It was a rather quick vehicle, the fastest in all the sea probably, but it still took us about an hour to make it to the island. Aqualad had to catch a ride on the hull a couple times, growing tired trying to go as fast as we were. By the time we reached the island, Speedy could see the battle up above us through the periscope. Obviously, Superman had sped the league to location rather quickly.

"The distraction seems to be going pretty well", Speedy said, "but they're obviously holding back quite a bit."

"Can you see Batman?" I asked, trying to keep the tiny sliver of worry out of my voice.

"Not yet", Speedy replied. Batman had ordered radio silence until we had the hostages at a safe distance from the island, but it took ever fiber of my restraint not to call and see if he was ok. "Wait", Speedy amended, "there's his plane. It looks fine, undamaged. Although not quite as impressive as the Arrow Plane."

"Please", I replied sarcastically, "the Batplane is way cooler than the Arrow Plane. There's just no contest."

"Guys", Wonder Girl said, "we kind of have a job to do." I rolled my eyes.

"You're such a nag", KF whined. She frowned and put her hands on her hips.

"Men", she grumbled, "You're all the same." We boys smirked and Aqualad pounded against the glass, annoyed at not being included. I waved my hand dismissively at him and stopped the sub. Now, it was Aqualad's turn to do the heavy lifting.

The aquatic boy took off swiftly, poking around at the base of island in search of an entrance. If he couldn't find one, we'd have to do our best to sneak up on land and try to get through the jungle. That was not a pleasant prospect in the slightest and I did not look foreward to having to brave those uncertain depths.

It was strange to see the sunlight flickering downward through the shallow sea, because in Gotham right now, it was already dark. Here, however, it was mid morning. A shark swam by, gazing interestedly at the sub before pursing some fish. Seaweed waved quietly in the currents, interrupted every so often by small crabs, clinging to the fronds and scuttling along the rocks. It was quite beautiful under the ocean and I almost wished Batman and I spent more time here.

A moment later, Aqualad popped out of a cave and motioned frantically for us to enter. I urged the sub foreward and it went, silently sliding through the water like a ghost. Now was the time for stealth.

A small pocket of air greeted us once we were inside the cavern. It seemed fairly disserted but with the ceiling so low, the periscope was useless and we were forced to rely on Aqualad's hand signals. He showed us a good place to park and waited as I opened the first set of doors.

"Looks like we're swimming guys", I said, grabbing a rebreather out of my belt. They all nodded, though KF didn't look particularly pleased with the idea. "I have an extra bat rebreather Speedy, if you need one", I said sarcastically.

"Hah, hah", he replied, "I have an Arrow rebreather." I passed a device to KF and Wonder Girl.

"Now", I said, "remember, you only get thirty breaths so make 'em count." They both nodded and I took a moment to mentally prepare myself for the chill of the water. It was bound to be freezing and I wasn't looking foreward to getting my costume wet at all.

"Go", I said. Wonder Girl pressed the button and the hatch opened. Water began to flood the compartment at a swift pace, making it all but impossible to escape from it. Waiting until the stream of water slowed and I had a chance of getting out, I took a final breath of air and clamped down on the mouthpiece of my rebreather before sliding swiftly out of the hatch. The others followed a moment later. Aqualad dove down to meet us, grabbing my hand and Speedy's so he could tow us along a little faster. Speedy didn't look particularly pleased about this, but we were the slowest swimmers of the group and thirty breaths didn't go all that far.

Just as I felt my lungs were about to burst, Aqualad surfaced, dragging us upwards. We all treaded water together beneath a rock ceiling, which practically scrapped the top of my head. It was so dark, I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, much less the others, so I cracked a glow stick and held it up, allowing it to illuminate my friends' faces.

KF was gasping frantically and clung to Aqualad, doing his best to keep himself above water. Obviously, he wasn't used to using a device like a rebreather and hadn't rationed his breaths all that well. The others looked no worse for wear. "Are you ok?" I asked him. He nodded and slowly brought his breathing back under control.

"Where are we?" Wonder Girl asked. I shook my head, indicating I knew about as much as she did, and turned to Aqualad.

"There's a hole down there somewhere that will take us into the main complex where they're holding the hostages. Let me go down and relocate it before I lead you guys." I nodded and put my arm around KF to support him as Aqualad went down.

"I'm fine Robin", Kid snapped, although by the way his arm was wrapped around my neck, he was more tired than he cared to let on.

"Sure", Speedy replied, "That's why you were hanging all over Garth like a drunk prom date."

"I was not", KF snapped.

"You kinda were Kid", I said.

"Yea", Speedy continued, "now you're doing the same to Robin."

"I am not", KF growled.

"Ohh grow up guys", Wonder Girl said, "Come here KF, I'll hold onto you."

"I'm fine", he replied, releasing me with a dark look. Speedy and I snickered. Aqualad resurfaced, shaking out his hair like a dog after a bath.

"Garth", I growled, "I'm wet enough thank you."

He smirked condescendingly and said, "I found the tunnel. Who wants to go with me first?"

"I will", I replied, "I'd like to scout the perimeter before loud mouth arrow boy over here alerts the whole base that we're here."

"Hey", Speedy snapped, "that's so not true."

"He's right Speedy, they should change your name to Noisy", KF said. Aqualad snickered and wrapped an arm around my waist. I put my arms around his neck and took a deep breath before plunging beneath the water level again. I knew trying to help Aqualad swim would be pretty useless, so I just clung on and let him swim as swiftly as he could down to the tunnel.

After a moment, we were in and he had given me a shove onto land. "You ok?" he asked, climbing up onto shore next to me. I nodded, regaining my breath quickly enough.

"Go get the others but tell them to stay here. I'm gonna have a look around." Aqualad nodded and went back under the water. I held up the glow stick and slowly picked my way across the floor of the cave, minding the uncertain terrain. It was good to be on my feet again and not treading water. I kept to the wall, trailing slowly down the curves of the tunnel and, after a few moments, I came across a door. I could find no writing or markings on it, though I checked rather painstakingly, and finally decided it was worth the risk to open.

Slowly, I pushed it open, ready at any moment to leap behind the wall to avoid gunfire. But, there was none. Once the door was all the way open for almost a minute, I poked my head out the doorway. At first, I saw nothing but a large empty room. There were a few vehicles and some boxes piled in a corner, but nothing particularly remarkable. Then, I noticed the apes.

There were four of them, standing in a circle as if guarding something. Each was larger than any normal ape and hefted a large semi-automatic. Wondering what they could be doing, I stalked on all fours behind some boxes. One of the apes moved to scratch his hairy ass and I noticed a frightened looking young woman behind him. "The hostages", I whispered to myself.

Alright, I needed to make a plan. I had to figure out what we were going to do. Apes were hard to handle without guns, which they happened to have, (How does an ape get a gun anyway? Who sells a gun to giant ape?) so I would need to be sneaky about this. Slowly, I skulked back into the cave, where my friends were shivering and dripping on the shore, Aqualad floating philosophically beside them.

"Alright guys", I said, coming up, "There are four apes in there with semi-auto's guarding several hostages. I wasn't able to count how many but I figure we need a plan. Come on." I led them down the tunnel, trying to ignore Wonder Girl's grumbling about how much she hated being wet. And she'd said we were being immature?

Crouching together behind the boxes, I gave them a few hand signals, instructing them on what they needed to do. Nodding in agreement, each went off to fulfill his or her part of the plan. Only Aqualad was left behind, given instructions to ready the boat we were taking out of here, which had been skillfully hidden on the back of the island by Batman when the assault had first started.

He wasn't too pleased by this, since he wanted to see some fighting action too, but he was the only one who could swim well enough to make it back, so I had sent him, grumbling, to the place where the boat was hidden. We would have taken the people in the sub, but we weren't sure how many there would be or what condition they would be in. A swim through the cold, dark water was not ideal for a person in a medical emergency.

Wonder Girl took flight, silent as an owl, and hovered in the darkest corner of the room, hoping not to be seen. Speedy slunk around the left and I crept to the right, KF on my heels. Then, I gave the signal and all hell broke loose. Wonder Girl swooped down grabbing the first ape and hauling him up to the ceiling before dropping him hard. He landed heavily, gave a groan and fell unconscious.

By this time, the rest of us had engaged the other apes, drawing them away from the hostages. As soon as Speedy and I had their undivided attention, dodging bullets and letting loose a barrage of batarangs and arrows, KF swept in to free the hostages, and herded them to safety.

I took down one ape with a well-aimed electric shock batarang and Speedy took another, netting him with two net arrows. That left one final ape, bellowing and shooting wildly, bullets ricocheting like crazy all over the place. "Alright", I yelled over the ruckus, "Everyone together now." We all rushed the ape at the same time, Wonder Girl drawing his fire. I landing on his head and wrapped a thin steel cable around his neck. The ape staggered wildly, trying desperately to dislodge me, but I hung in there, my teeth clacking together and my bones rattling.

Finally, the ape stumbled, turned a circle and fell to the ground unconscious. Leaping off the beast's great hairy form, I slapped a high five with KF and started towards the hostages, who were clustered in the corner of the room where the junior speedster had stowed them.

"Alright everyone", I said, my voice as confident and commanding as I could make it, "We're going to get you out of here now. Just relax and everything will be fine." Now that they were clearly visible, I could count them. There were six people there, a woman with a tiny child, a man of perhaps forty, a teenage boy, a young girl and a woman in her mid twenties. Altogether, they were a motley group, all looking tired and preoccupied.

"You're not the Justice League", the man said, stepping foreward.

"No", Wonder Girl replied, landing beside me, "but we're the next best thing. Come on." The people stepped foreward, sticking close together like a flock of nervous sheep. Wonder Girl split them up as gently as possible so we could make sure they were all in good enough shape to make the trek through a stretch of jungle terrain which would take us to the shore and the boat.

I sent KF to find a door out of the place that didn't take us down into the water and turned to inspect the hostages. The little girl glanced at me, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. She looked about six or seven and was pretty upset. I knelt down next to her, extending one hand. "Hey Sweetheart, it's ok, you're safe now. We'll take care of you."

"I want my mommy and daddy", she whimpered.

"Well, we're gonna find them soon as we get out of here." I figured I ought to keep her talking so I could take her mind off her troubles. "So, what's your name?"

"Ally", she replied.

"That's a pretty name for a pretty girl." She smiled at me and stopped crying. "Where are you from Ally?"

"Star City", she replied, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Really", I said, "Star City? I have a lot of friends in Star City. Have you ever seen Green Arrow?"

"He saved my daddy", the girl replied, eyes shinning excitedly. "Daddy was falling from this big tall building and Green Arrow swooped down and caught him up! Mommy was crying but I thought it was cool." I grinned.

"That is pretty cool. Hey, you know, Green Arrow's partner is here today with me. You wanna meet him?" The girl nodded rapidly and I beckoned Speedy over.

"This is Speedy", I said, "he works with Green Arrow."

"Hiya", Speedy said, kneeling in front of the girl. Considering my work done, I went over to Wonder Girl to hear her assessment.

"Well", she said, "they all look pretty good, although the little boy that woman is holding might have to be carried by one of us." I nodded.

"Do you wanna see if she'll let you have him?" Wonder Girl nodded and, after speaking a few moments with the woman, convinced her to reluctantly hand over her child. The little one whimpered and cried, reaching out for his mother, but Donna soothed him until he settled in her arms.

"Alright everyone", I said commandingly (though I think I lost some of their confidence when my voice cracked), "Lets move out."