Disclaimer: I do not own the existing characters that we know and love of Young Justice, although I do take ownership over the new characters i.e. The majority of the Team's children (although the name of Nightwing's daughter is technically canon I guess)

Big thank you to my beta, LynnnSmith – an amazing beta who has been with me from the very beginning of the story!

Chapter 03 – Willow West

The boy who called himself Firewing had now been captured. Captured by something that looked like a metallic spider contraption had trapped him with electrical cables it had hidden within its body.

And I could do nothing but sit back and watch as he was dragged away deeper into the vent shaft.

"Firewing?" I called out, trying not to be too loud, but knowing I was loud enough to be heard.

A thickly built man with a boxing like outfit thundered into the room that I was being held at. He glowered at me from behind a mask, booming, "Who's Firewing, pretty girl? Is he your new boyfriend? Because if he is, then I'll be really sad…"

This brute was apparently called Uppercut – I had heard his boss say his name once or twice, but I just disliked everything about him. The fact that his voice sounded just like a child had been trapped in an adult's body. The husky voice of a naïve child. And when he called me pretty girl – it just irked me. Not to mention Uppercut had the creepiest look on his face when he said it, one that made me immediately think 'please get away from me.'

I flicked my head awkwardly, feeling my red long hair slipping down my shoulder.

"Oh I like your hair too… but come on then, pretty girl, the boss man wants to speak to you. And the rescue mission failed." Uppercut lifted me up and held me over his shoulder. "No escape now."

I shook my hands and wriggled about in an attempt to free myself from the plastic cable ties that were rubbing the skin on my ankles and wrists.

"Put me down…" I said weakly, surveying the surroundings as Uppercut walked through a small corridor that opened out into the main hanger area of a warehouse.

"Willow West- so glad that you could join us all. I believe some introductions are due…" A tall and incredibly thin man walked towards Uppercut as the brute placed me down on the floor with little delicacy.

A metal spider crawled across the floor and sliced my cable ties before skittering along the warehouse floor, out of sight.

"I am Metallica," the tall man added, extending his hand out to help me up, but I declined it. "Okay, I would like to offer you a preposition. One that I hope you will accept for your own good." Metallica had pale skin and silvery blonde hair that was pulled back into a long, low hanging ponytail. "I want you to infiltrate the Justice Team of America. Uppercut informs me that you are the daughter of Artemis and the original Kid Flash- God rest his soul… So naturally as their child, Nightwing will embrace you with open arms. That will secure your position as a member of the Justice League's kiddy squad. In return, this box and much more will be yours." Metallica clicked his slender fingers for a hooded figure to emerge from the shadows.

The figure was carrying a rectangular wooden box with intricate carvings on the side that caught my eye.

"I present to you, one of the few collapsible bows that were forged in the fires of Apokolips. Something of which no amount of money can buy. I am sure that this is sentimental to you and as you are ambidextrous, you'll be able to use either hand."

My head shook rapidly, reminding myself of the values I held closest to me. The values of good and evil. I didn't even realise that my hand was stretched out and my fingertips grazed the surface of the box.

"No. I can't do that. It would be so wrong, and I don't want to. Nightwing is- he's like family to me. I could never ever betray him like that."

Metallica closed the lid of the box and held it out to me, only confusing me more. "Take it anyway, as a parting gift. I'm in a- relatively good mood so I will give you one final offer. It has severe consequences should you choose to reject my offer. Do you have an understanding of what I am replying, Willow West?"

My stomach was turning at the thought of these sever consequences he was referring to, but if this was going to be the only way for me to get out alive, then perhaps the risk had to be taken.

"Why?"

Metallica chuckled at my apparent naivety. "Oh my dear child, I want to learn about the weaknesses of the Justice Team."

"But that's wrong…"

"Oh Willow. Willow, Willow, Willow. You really don't get it, do you? Darling, you really don't have a choice, because if you don't help me, then I'll have to dispose of your little rescue team."

"Rescue team?" I knew he must have been talking about Firewing, but one boy was hardly a rescue team. "What are you talking about?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Your little superhero friends apparently thought they could storm my stronghold, breach my security, retrieve their little friend and leave unharmed. Come with me and see them for yourself then."

He took my hand and marched me over to a little raised platform where two people about my age had been tied up.

"The game is over, Willow. Not even Boy Wonder here was able to save you…" Metallica snapped his fingers again.

This time, it was Uppercut who appeared like an obedient little dog. Hanging over his shoulder, was the limp body of Firewing.

"So here is the final and last offer that I will give you. You will agree to infiltrate the Justice Team, and in return, I will let you and your three friends leave this place alive. Because I'm in a generous mood, you can even keep the Apokolips bow for definite."

My mind raced with thoughts and scenarios over how I was going to get out of the warehouse alive if I said no. These people tried to save me, so I thought that I owed them their freedom and this was how I would have to do it. I just didn't know what to say or do when it was such controversial betrayal that I would have to commit.

"Okay, if you let these people go, then I'll-" It hurt to even think about the words that I was going to say. "I'll give you the information you desire."

"Excellent choice, Willow…" Metallica mumbled, pulling an old flip-up mobile phone from the inside pocket of his coat. "I will be in contact with you when I require your intel on the Justice Team. If you try to dispose of the phone, I'll know. If you refuse, I'll do something. If you ignore me, I break your fingers. Oh, and you can forget about warning your little friends about our deal, because if you do, then the metal structure of the Hall of Justice might just collapse… Or the Watchtower's metallic element will magnetise towards the Earth's surface with so much force that there won't be any survivors in Gotham City – maybe even America. Let's just say I control metal so it's possible. Am I quite clear, Willow?"

"Clear as you wanted me to be, Metallica. I understand," I replied, slipping the phone into my hoodie pocket as Metallica and Uppercut started to walk away. "Wait…" I turned to continue, but they were both out of sight before I had the chance to.

"Fin! Nightstar!" a tall boy called out, running to where the two were lashed together. He was tall (not quite as tall as Uppercut) and had these broad shoulders with thick and muscular arms that made me never want to meet him down a dark alleyway alone, but he was clearly a friend. He cut the ropes around the two teens that he called Fin and Nightstar. They ropes dropped to the ground.

"What happened?" the girl asked, shaking her head slowly.

"Never mind your questions, Nightstar. Return to base. That's an order. Nightwing trusted us to complete the rescue mission. Now that we have done that, I'd like for us to get to debriefing on time… I've got to feed back to Nightwing so that a training plan can be devised. You've got a lot to learn. There is vast room for improvement."

The dark skinned boy I think was called Finn retaliated, "Hey, we weren't all trained as protégés. So we've got to get to that stage first. There's always going to be room for improvement."

The tall boy stopped and smiled at me from behind a white mask. "I must be looking at Willow… An introduction is in order. I am Jester." He held out his hand to me. "Come with us if you want to live."

I didn't say a word, but he grabbed my hand and led me to their base, along with Fin, Nightstar and Firewing.

But once we got to the base, Jester stopped me from going inside. "I believe you dropped this," he said in a low tone as he produced the rectangular box that the collapsible Apokolips bow was in from underneath his cape. "Don't leave it lying around. It looks valuable."

Jester walked inside and I just stood there like a lemon – it was as if he knew about the agreement I had somewhat been forced into by Metallica.

Cautiously, I carried on walking behind Ryan, hoping that I would see Nightwing again. I remembered him being a close friend of my mum's when they were my age. After I was born, Nightwing was nearly always there to help my mother out – he had just returned from a retreat to some place I had never heard of. Maybe because it was part of another galaxy. He and my mum were so close because of their relationships with the original Kid Flash. Wally West. My dad. So to think of seeing Nightwing again after so long, was forging a warm, glowing feeling in my heart.

"Nightwing?" I said shyly as I saw him across the main room of the base.

"Willow," he said, smiling as he held his arms out to me and we hugged one another in a tight embrace. "It's good to see you alive and well."

"Alive and well," I repeated.

"Good. Right. Jester, you feed back to Nightstar, Fin and Firewing whilst I talk over some things with Willow." Nightwing waited for his protégé's acknowledgement before leading me up onto the roof of the building, but something was bothering him.

I could tell – it was written all over his face, even behind the black mask.

"Are you okay, Nightwing?" I asked, sitting down on the edge of the roof beside him – slightly terrified by the fact that my feet were dangling hundreds of feet above the streets of Gotham.

He smiled softly. "You know, I was just thinking…"

"About what?" My fingers clawed the gravel behind me, leaning away from the edge.

"I was thinking about how strange it is that the next squad of the Justice family are nearly all the children of the generation before them."

"Well, you are the last of the superheroes, Richard. You are the ones that have to protect the world."

"You were always one of the few people who called me Richard."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well it must be better than 'dog,' right?"

Nightwing turned away from me. "He always had a way with words, your dad…"

It seemed weird how I always spoke about the man I called Dad, more so because I never actually met him. All I had to keep him alive were old photos, his souvenirs and everyone else's memories.

"Come on, there's something I want to show you. We'll go to the Watchtower."

"What's that?" I asked, my voice shaking a little from the worrying.

"It's alright. Think of the Watchtower as a second base- one that's off surface."

The realisation hit me after a while. "You mean – you mean that the Watchtower is in space. You're taking me to space?"

"You have been there once before, when you were very small. So just wait and see, okay?"

Nightwing led me to the Watchtower and I couldn't believe that, that I was in space; standing on a floating asteroid in space.

"Willow!" a young boy shouted, waving at me. He was wearing ordinary clothes, meaning I instantly made the connection.

"Max?" I replied, noticing that there was a similarity between Max and Firewing. They were the same.

"Isn't this amazing? You should join the Justice Squad and help me, Mari, Finn, and also Ryan. Ryan is Jester… but nobody likes Ryan- apart from his girlfriend Lola that is." Max grinned before receiving a sharp slap to the back of his head by Nightwing. "Sorry Dad…" he murmured, rubbing the back of his head. "But we can think of your superhero name now."

No…

Max was setting me up to betray them and he didn't even know it. It was starting to look as though there was no way I could avoid Metallica's traitorous deal…

"What's in the box, Willow?" Max frowned at the rectangular box in my arms. "I don't remember you having that when you left school, or in the warehouse."

"Well I kind of didn't."

"Kind of- How kind of?" Max fired back rapidly. "Either you had it, or you didn't."

"Well I- I- I took it back from Metallica."

"You know about Metallica." Max cautiously stepped back. "Do you know what's inside the box?"

"Mm-hmm," I replied slowly, nodding my head. "It's a bow, a collapsible bow." I carefully opened the box and turned it around to show him what it looked like.

"Woah…"

His fingers reached out to touch the bow, but my possessive nature encouraged me to shut the box and hold it close.

"Oh come on, Willow!" he moaned. "Let's me fire it Willow, please!" His hands locked together in a pleading fashion.

"I hope my brother's not annoying you." A girl walked towards me. "I'm Mari by the way."

"We've met before. I'm Willow, Willow West."

Mari's mouth hung open in disbelief. "Wills? Oh god, I didn't even recognise you. I didn't even put a name to your face – this is amazing!"

Max obviously couldn't resist poking fun at the situation that was unfolding. "I wonder what or who my sister really pays attention to in de-briefings if she didn't realise it was you who we were rescuing."

I smiled weakly as Mari suddenly threw her arms around me, causing me to drop the box.

"It's so good to see you, Willow. Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw the collapsed bow on the floor. "That's- that's been forged in the fires at Apokolips, where did you get it?"

My mind began to race again, and I was completely flustered without any ability to construct a logically sound sentence.

"It was – a – well, I fou- oh I can't remember. I had had it for so long now that I don't know anymore!"

Max laughed. "You don't need to worry, Willow. It's not like Metallica decided to gift you the probably most expensive bow in the world in exchange for information, was it?"

Nervous laughter escaped my mouth.

"Are you joining the Justice Squad?" Mari asked me once the laughter died before grasping my hands in hers. She whispered, "We could do with another girl on the team, it gets so boring being the only girl."

"Oh I'm not so sure about that, Mari. I wouldn't even know what to do on a mission or something like that. Thinking on my feet isn't a strength of mine."

"But you could have a home here." Mari smiled, before covering her hand with her mouth. "Sorry, it's just that the Flash- Barr, he told us that you were staying with him, his wife and the twins. Sounds like a tight squeeze… Plus, there are plenty of available rooms here. Finn and Ryan already have one, and there are still a few spare rooms. You could have your pick."

There was a lot behind why I moved in with Barry Allen and his family. He was no longer the Flash since Apocalypse struck the Justice League. It was a series of dark events that tore the old Justice League apart, damaging some of them beyond repair. In a way, each of the Justice Leaguers was affected in one way or another. The old Flash was left in a wheelchair, unable to use his legs or ability. I was there to be able to help care for him. The twins were just a little bit older than me but were already studying abroad in England. Barry and his wife encouraged them to work on academia outside of Gotham City – that way they wouldn't be made targets of the villains in the world for being the Flash's children. Barry and his wife embraced having me in the house, but I couldn't live there forever, so maybe joining the Justice Squad was a way of getting a new home and really fitting in somewhere. You only get so many second chances.

"I suppose. Maybe." Not even realising it, my shoulders hunched over and I shied away.

"Please!" Max smiled.

"O-kay… Okay, I'll- I'll join the Squad," I said cheerfully. "What are you going to call me, Firewing?"

"I think Huntress, or Archeress, or Artemis- something like that?"

The mentioning of some of those names, I recoiled and back away from them.

Mari piped up and broke the short silence, "I like the idea of Willow's hero name being related to an archer or something, but Artemis and Huntress have already been taken by Willow's mother and grandmother… So maybe follow the tradition. I'm pretty sure that in Greek and Roman mythology, there's two names for Artemis- Diana? At least I think it's Diana."

"I like Diana…" I smiled slightly. "What do you think, Nightwing?"

Nightwing placed a hand on Mari and Max. "Well if these guys want you on the team and you like the name Diana, then why not? Jester! You got a new teammate."

Ryan was now wearing his own clothes, just like Mari and Max. He was currently engrossed in his phone, even though it clearly wouldn't work whilst in space. "Oh, right, sorry. Sounds like good news. Listen Nightwing – I got a date meeting me outside the Hall of Justice… I'll be back for more discussions later tonight."

"Okay, good job tonight, Jester. It was a success." Nightwing watched Ryan go on his way. "Mari, why don't you go and show Willow to her new home?"

Mari smiled at her father. "Come on Willow, let's go find you a room." She linked arms with me and took me through the weird transport method that took us down to the main base. "Finn and Ryan have rooms just down there, I'm pretty sure that there are two more rooms available. Looks as though you've got the choice of the two."

"Well that's okay. I don't mind. A room is a room at the end of the day."

Barry Allen was so caring about me when I told him that I was moving out to join the Justice Squad – he insisted that I stay where I was, rather than move out.

But I wanted to move out, so that I wouldn't be an inconvenience to Barry and his family. Not that he ever thought I was.

I was sat on the bed in my room, looking at the decorations that had been set up in my room. A single bed was tucked away in the corner of the room, furthest from the door. Beside the bed, was a tall, wood wardrobe. The gap between the bed and the wardrobe provided a good place to hide the collapsible bow – should any unwanted guests come into my room. On the other side of the room, there was an antique, wooden desk that had some intricate carvings in it, curtesy of Finn as a welcome to your new home present. There, I would be able to take care of any school work that I had to do. Yes, I still had school work to endure, along with rigorous training schedules that had put into place by Jester. Other than the basic furniture, I had some of my own belongings, including a random dart board that hung on the door. When I wasn't training or doing schoolwork, I enjoyed either being outside or practicing precision sports. Like darts and archery. Particularly building up my weaker hand.

The one thing I wasn't so sure about was the outfit that I had to wear as Diana. It was kept on a mannequin that was in a hollowed out part of the wall. On the dull grey mannequin, was my hero outfit.

A warrior queen outfit as Mari and Max called it – but I called it a gladiator outfit. Over where the mannequin's eye would have been, was a plain brown mask – I liked the mask, it was about the only thing I liked. Hugging the mannequin's body was a brown bodice that had a gold chevron pattern on it. Trying to stick with the gladiator theme, it had a panelled brown skirt that also had the gold chevron pattern on each panel. In drawers underneath the mannequin, were the accessories that included brown guards for my arms and legs, gladiator sandals and leather wrist pads for when I was indulging in archery. It did look really good with the collapsible bow…

But working in this outfit was one of the most complicated things.

That afternoon I was going to endure the most rigorous training exercise imaginable. I was being pitted against Jester in hand to hand combat, and it was obvious that he was stronger than I was.

"Come on Diana- at least try and make me work."

"Well… Less is sometimes more," I panted, raising my hands up in front of my face as if I was ready to karate chop him to death.

I looked at Jester, squinting a little from behind my brown mask, feeling my eyelashes graze the material of it.

He was physically stronger than I was, and had the height advantage too – along with way more experience than me.

"Come on Diana!" he growled with more angry and exasperation.

Urged to do something, I couldn't. I had frozen and was unable to move. Glancing to the left, I saw Firewing and Nightstar watching, though the youngster was starting to lose interest as his older sister silently cheered me on by nodding her head enthusiastically and shaking her fists. I tried to throw a few kicks and punches, but he merely sidestepped out of the way of each one.

"Good Diana – very good. We are actually getting somewhere. You're beginning to put up the small level of fight that Firewing did when he was six!" Jester goaded me, and it was working a little bit. "Come on!"

But I had to stop myself, it was clear that he was hoping for a reaction so that I would drop my guard.

"Jester, your mobile telephone, it rings…" The Atlantean called Finley- with a superhero name Fin, came timidly towards me and Jester. In his hands was Jester's phone. "It's Lo-la- she's calling you and it won't stop ringing. There are now eleven calls recorded."

Just as Jester was about to take the phone, I decided in a second to take a leaf out of his book and play dirty. Like he had done so in our last training session.

I twirled around to give my roundhouse kick the momentum it needed. My foot slammed into Jester's side, knocking him back to the ground with a sharp grunt.

"Session over, Diana!" he snapped before answering the call. "Lola, babe, give me a second. Just wait-" he said, speaking with a slightly more positive tone than I had heard him speak in.

"That was, really impressive…" Finn said, holding his hand out to help me up off the floor.

With the sheer momentum of the kick, I had completely missed my landing and ended up on the floor.

"Thanks," I murmured, politely ignoring his help and rolling forwards on to my feet. "Though I wish he would spend less time taking phone calls."

Finn laughed, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sure you don't mean that to sound malicious, but I get what you mean. Training hasn't been the same since this new girlfriend came along…"

"Really? Because the way he acts, I get the impression that they had been going out for a while now – so who is she?"

"Oh- um, he- she's-" Finn stammered, taken aback by my curiousity. "Well she is called Lola and Jester describes her as the dream girl. Intellectual, pretty, athletic and quick-witted, really quick-witted."

I couldn't help but scowl at him. "She sounds like his polar opposite. But he is so engrossed in his girlfriend to even notice that Nightwing has been sending Angel and Green Canary to go on mediocre missions because we aren't capable."

Nightstar coughed in an obvious manner from behind us. "Don't be like that Wi- Diana… it's the territory that comes with juggling hero life and a personal life. He's just lucky he's got a girlfriend who isn't a hero."

An inadvertent soft snort escaped my mouth, causing her to hit me, hard. So hard that it really hurt- she definitely had additional strength on her list of abilities. Nightstar was so clearly into Jester, despite the fact he had a girlfriend…

"It's not funny, Willow!"

Firewing was once again eager to throw a spanner in the works at his sister's expense. "Well there is always the Flying Fox, right sis? You'd think that you wanted to marry him based on those doe eyed looks that you give him whenever our paths cross." He turned to look over his shoulder at me. "Just so that you know, Flying Fox is a real nemesis of ours. Always interfering and making everything three times more difficult for us by simply being in the area."

"Really?" I asked.

Nightstar rolled her eyes. "Max! You know that it's not like that!" In a burst of anger, a violet string of starbolt energy hit the wall beside her brother. "I will not miss next time!"

In amongst the tiny little squabble that was unfolding between Nightstar, Firewing and I, none of us even noticed that Green Canary had returned from her own mission.

Maybe Finn had, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Okay kids, that's enough of that now…" she sighed, clapping her hands and causing the vibrations to repel us away from each other. "Much better. Your next mission awaits." She turned on her toes and started walking away. "Are you coming or are you waiting for a formal invitation?"

I instantly ran to grab my collapse bow off the bench and chased after Green Canary and my teammates.

It was my first mission, and it couldn't have come at the right time – this was my chance to prove that I was a worthy part of the team and opponent to the darkness.

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Ah! Another chapter out of the way, but in the next chapter, I'm going to stick with it being from Willow's perspective – what do you make of Willow?