Mount Justice- July 23rd- 9:28 A.M.
"Is, is it his hobby or something?" Nightshade asked when she saw a kid in a Robin suit standing in front of her. Batman had taken in a new protegee, a new Robin. The kid had figured out who Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl were and so he was forced to let him join in. Nightwing shrugged and took him to the training room, along with all the new recruits. Tempest, Aquagirl, Lagoon Boy, Red Shot, and Livewire had all been introduced at the Watchtower, but including the new Robin, the team had gotten more recruits. Wonder Woman had introduced them to Troia, an Amazon warrior she had pushed onto the team and the other one was a former classmate of Miss Martian and Superboy, Karen Beecher currently going by Bumblebee.
"This feels really irresponsible," Artemis said, following Nightwing and Nightshade into the training room.
"Why? It's not like they don't have previous experience," Kid Flash argued.
"I think she's talking about the part where Nightshade is the one doing the training," Zatanna chimed in. "Honestly, I agree. I never thought Nightshade would have such a Spartan approach to training," she continued. The group sat down with the rest of the team and watched as the new recruits lined up in front.
"Please tell me that's everyone," She asked, looking back at the team. After Aqualad nodded, Nightshade turned her gaze back at the expectant group. After two full days of strength, agility and tactical training, the group was finally going to have the first combat training. "Okay, just so we are all on the same page. We have three Atlanteans, one Amazon, two Metahumans and two normal humans. Though one of them is wearing a cool suit, and it's not the new Boy Wonder. We're all good?" Nightshade asked.
"Can you get on with it? It's weird seeing you like this," Red Shot told her, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Sure. Your combat practice is going to be the eight of you against me," Nightshade said.
"What are you doing?" Batgirl asked. The whole room filled with confused faces, as Nightshade just tightened her gloves.
"Training. Whoever manages to land a hit will be exempt from training tomorrow," She told them.
"Come on, Nightshade. You're not that good," Red Shot said.
"Beat me then," Nightshade answered, she dropped her sword and her guns to the side leaving only her knives as weapons.
"Was that really necessary?" He asked.
"Of course, I never miss a chance to brag," The girl answered.
The training room activated as they all got in position to attack Nightshade. The first one to try something was Red Shot who used his powers to throw energy blasts at her, but she dodged them, and the ones that she couldn't dodge she used a fire shield to block them out. Seeing as that wasn't working, he flew right at her and tried a direct hit, but she jumped over him and kicked him in the back and into the wall.
Nightwing smiled a little when he saw Lance crashing against the wall face first, but he quickly hid it when Miss Martian turned back to look at him. Tempest and Aquagirl got closer to Nightshade while she was distracted with Red Shot, but when they got close enough, Nightshade turned back and kicked them into each other.
"Do you all see what you've done wrong?" Nightshade asked just as Troia and Bumblebee charged at her together. Troia managed to grab Nightshade, but before she could hit her, Nightshade burned her sides and forced her to let go. Instead, she grabbed Troia and put her in the path of Bumblebee's sting. She regrew to her normal size just in time for Nightshade to push her away and into Aquagirl who had gotten back up.
Tempest used his powers to create a puddle around Nightshade's feet, he placed his hands on the puddle and when the electricity started coming out, a darkness portal opened up swallowing the girl. The portal opened back up right behind him and kicked him into the ground. While she was doing that, she didn't notice Lagoon Boy coming up from behind her, he grabbed her and inflated, keeping Nightshade trapped. The girl ignited her whole body, forcing Lagoon Boy to retreat. Troia and Red Shot tried to charge towards her at the same time, allowing the Nightshade to jump on Troia and grab her lasso.
"Give that back!" Troia demanded.
"Well, since you're asking nicely," Nightshade said and wrapped the lasso around her feet and pulled her to crash right into Red Shot, finally knocking him out. Nightshade's hair started changing to a muddled red and when Livewire launched an attack, she opened a portal and redirected the attack towards Livewire instead, taking her out.
"What the hell?" Bumblebee asked after seeing Nightfall. Her hair returned to usual and Nightshade was back, to prevent Tempest, Aquagirl or Lagoon Boy from trying anything else, she put them in fiery cages, holding them in just enough to drain their energy. Nightshade turned to look at Troia, she took the remaining part of Troia's lasso and tied it around Bumblebee, forcing her to the ground.
"Just one more. Show yourself kid, or you're going to force me to bring out my other friend," she said out loud still holding onto the lasso. Robin jumped down from the roof and landed right in front of Nightshade, he tried a kick, but she blocked it without much effort. Robin jumped over her, but she grabbed his cape and pulled him down. "I think it's my win," said Nightshade, just as a beeping sound came from her arm, she recognized the small device as one of the bombs Richard used when he was Robin.
"I wouldn't be so sure," he said, and the moment Nightshade let go of his cape, he kicked her in the chest sending her to the ground. The sound died down and by the time Nightshade realized it was just a fake, it was too late. "My win," he said. Nightshade let go of the lasso and brought down the fire cages.
"You're right, your win," she conceded.
"What was that? Who was that?" Bumblebee asked.
"Nightfall. Since when are you two so...friendly?" Livewire asked.
"Stuff happened, I'll catch you up later. Now on to what you did wrong," Nightshade started. "Before this session, I told you you would be battling someone from the team. True I didn't say who or how many, but you have access to the team's records, which includes powers and abilities. How many of you bothered to check?" Nightshade asked. "Robin, how did you win?"
"I observed the fight and waited for you to leave an opening,"
"And why did I leave an opening?" She asked.
"Because you underestimated me from the moment you saw me," he told her.
"And that was my mistake. Good job, you're free to go today. We'll work on technique tomorrow," she told them and walked away from the training room, Nightwing getting up to go with her.
The training went on for a few more hours that turned into a few more days and a few more weeks until Nightshade declared that the group was ready.
Mount Justice- August 25th- 2:47 P.M.
"It hurts, everything hurts!" Lagoon Boy cried out, he was in the grotto soaking up in the water. He was complaining to Aquagirl and Tempest when they heard footsteps coming from behind them. The training had been done by Nightwing who was determined to follow Nightshade's training instructions to the letter, leaving the group drained as always
"It's done that way so we don't end up here," Troia said pointing at the hologram of Jason Todd. An awkward silence followed her statement.
"She's right, though I didn't remember Nightshade being that much of a Spartan," Livewire said as she and Red Shot walked into the room. "Miss Martian is making 'get well soon' cookies. They are in the kitchen if you want some," Livewire told them.
"Angel fish is?" Lagoon Boy asked, they all turned around to look at him. "What? She's really pretty," he told them.
"Be careful, I hear Kryptonians tend to be of the jealous type," Troia warned him. The group walked back to the kitchen and grabbed the cookies Miss Martian had prepared for them.
"How's everyone feeling?" Miss Martian asked. Superboy, Bumblebee, Beast Boy, Rocket, Artemis, Kid Flash, Zatanna, Batgirl and Aqualad all stood in the kitchen chatting and eating when the other joined.
"Where's Nightshade?" Livewire asked.
"Nightwing took her to the Medical Bay, she had a run in with intergang. It's just a minor injury, no need to worry about it," Zatanna answered. Just then they heard a loud scream coming from deeper into the cave.
"Dislocated shoulder," Kid Flash told them before anyone got any weird ideas.
"So while you've been training us, you're also going out on missions?" Robin asked, the team nodded.
"Just yesterday KF and I went on a stake out at Black Mask's headquarters," Artemis told them.
"Why aren't we joining you for this?" Troia asked. "Wouldn't that be better training than what we are doing?" The team looked back at Aqualad.
"Nightshade did clear them all," Miss Martian reminded him. "Why don't we take them with us tomorrow?" she looked at Superboy who shrugged.
"I see no harm in that, I will request League approval," Aqualad told them.
"So? What's the mission tomorrow?" Aquagirl leaned over on the counter, eager to hear an answer from Superboy and Miss Martian.