CHAPTER FIVE: TRAINING DAY

The Watchtower's inhabitants had finally decided to sleep. Everyone deserved it, especially due to the excitement many had experienced during the initiation.

Although the rest of the Watchtower was asleep, Batman was not. He was in the laboratory in the back of the Watchtower, looking over the body of Otis Flannegan A.K.A. The Ratcatcher. He couldn't believe that there were no traces of another villain's fingerprints or residue from one of their attacks.

The reason it was so strange was the fact that most of his villains had a residue from their attacks. Joker's laughing gas, Scarecrow's fear toxin, and Poison Ivy's plants left their traces, but it seemed this enemy had left no trace. He wondered exactly why that was. There was something happening in the world around them. Something no one knew about except those who stood behind it.

He planned to learn what was happening around them, and who exactly was behind it all.

Looking at a clock, he saw the time was 4:39 A.M. Most needed to sleep around this time, and he planned to do that, but during the day, as he had time. But the next day, training would begin for the new recruits. He was ready for it.

But he didn't know if the recruits were ready.


Barbara Gordon opened her eyes. She was in her bed. All around her she could hear the soft breathing of Kara and Cassie. She felt strange, being here in the Watchtower. While most of the founding members of the Justice League allowed her to be here, Batman was not allowing her. It infuriated Barbara, as she wanted him to completely accept her. But it seemed that wouldn't be happening.

What is going on around here? she thought to herself. I have some of the greatest people in my life. But there is still madness surrounding me. It's surrounded me since I was born. I can't believe all that's happened. From my mother's murder three years after I was born to the villains that are seemingly planning our downfall now. Why is this happening? It all feels so strange, something I don't understand. And I'll probably never understand, honestly.

She sat up in bed and began tousling her long, silky red hair. It never got thick and wiry, strangely, and that was what she loved.

But it seemed that out of all the things she loved, it came to her family, both immediate and "extended." She only had her father left when it came to the immediate family. There was a downside to her being a vigilante in Gotham, as her father was the police commissioner. If she was unmasked, her father's career would be completely ruined. If that happened, she would never stop blaming herself.

And then her mind shifted to her supposed extended family. Batman, despite how gruff he was and what was going on between them at the moment, she thought of him as a second father.

Tim, meanwhile, was like the little brother she'd never had. The best thing about him was the fact he always knew how to make her feel better, even in the darkest of situations. Fortunately, they hadn't gone through too many of those together, and she never planned to go through one.

Dick had been her boyfriend once, and although they had broken up years ago, she still had a few feelings left over for him. She still believed there was a chance she and him could get back together, but she didn't know for sure. Barbara just guessed she would have to wait and see. She could still remember their first date, how magical the night had been. And then it had seemed all the love they'd had for each other had gone away once he'd found out she was Batgirl. But now it seemed it was beginning to come back.

Jason Todd came into her mind. During her second year as Batgirl, after Dick had left the mantle of Robin and left Gotham, only to return as Nightwing, Batman found an orphaned teen running around the streets. He'd been able to take the wheels off the Batmobile. Batman soon took him in and trained him to be the second Robin. But tragedy struck just as Jason celebrated his one-year anniversary as Robin. While on the trail of the Joker, Jason had been taken and beaten to death with a crowbar. That put Barbara into a near-depression. Despite Jason being brash and somewhat arrogant, she'd loved him like a brother, and she still missed him very much. She wished even now that he would come back in some way.

And finally, there were her "sisters." One of them was Kara. She counted her as a sister, something she'd done since they'd teamed up together. Now they were going to be part of the Justice League together. Then there was Selina. She'd been working with Selina for a few years, and that was something she loved. It felt like the right thing to do, and Selina had once saved her, though Selina now knew her identity as a result, though it had been an accident. Last but not least, there was Stephanie Brown, a friend that had been part of the Bat-Family for at least three years. She was in Europe at the moment on a long trip to take a break from crime-fighting for a while. Barbara couldn't blame her.

But that wouldn't stop her from becoming a member of the Justice League.

Barbara yawned, and then rolled over, hoping to go right back to sleep.

She woke to the smell of bacon and eggs. Barbara opened her eyes again and found a plate full of them on her nightstand. She smiled, and then looked up. She found Kara and Cassie standing near her, both of them smiling brightly.

"Morning," greeted Kara. "It's only about 9 o'clock, but Cassie and I decided to go get breakfast. I brought some back for you. I didn't know exactly what you wanted, so I just decided to get you the stereotypical breakfast. Bacon and eggs." She giggled.

Barbara smiled. "Thank you," she said. "That's all I needed." She took the plate off the nightstand and held the fork. "Is something going on today for us?" she asked them.

"Actually, I think today, we have training," Kara told her. "It's weird. We just got here, and we're already going into training. I just wonder what we're going to have to deal with in our training simulations."

"Who knows?" said Barbara. "The world around us is becoming strange." She looked over to Cassie. "What's going on, Cassie?"

"Nothing much," Cassie replied. "I'm not as shy around everyone now, fortunately. I'm definitely not as shy around you two. I just have that small problem, if you know what I mean."

"It's okay," Barbara told her, beginning to eat her breakfast.

"Yeah, well, I just wish I didn't have it, but it's there, and that's how it's going to be, I guess." Cassie went silent, and then it looked as if she was thinking. Then she turned back to Barbara. "What happened last night, when you guys had to leave? When you came back, you came right into the room without saying anything, and went right to sleep."

Barbara sighed, and guessed she couldn't hold it back from Kara and Cassie.

"We went back to Gotham to check on a friend of ours, Catwoman," Barbara began. She looked to Kara. "You remember her, right?" Kara nodded, and Barbara went back to the story. "She found the body of one of our former enemies, the Ratcatcher. His chest had been slashed. It was disgusting. He died from the wound, unfortunately, even though we tried to save him. He tried to tell us who had done such a thing to him, but he died right before he could." She sighed. "The worst part was that his head exploded seconds later. Batman said it was because there were nanites laced with explosives."

Kara and Cassie looked between one another.

"That's strange," Kara said. "I'm surprised that's what happened."

"So am I," Barbara said. She ate her breakfast silently, and when finished, sighed. "Well, if today is the first day of training, then we should get ready. I need to wash my costume off, because some of the blood and brain matter splattered on it last night." She cringed, unable to think of that fact. "It's so disgusting."

"If only you knew who was behind it," said Kara. "But let's save that for later. It's time to get ready and go to our training session. Let's hope it won't kill us." She, Barbara, and Cassie laughed at her joke.

Thirty minutes later, the girls hurried out of their room, bumping into the boys in the process.

"Good morning," Nightwing greeted as Batgirl ran into him. "We were just coming to get you guys. But it seems not everyone needs a wake-up call."

"Well, yeah," Batgirl said. "Just because we're girls doesn't mean we need to be woken by boys. I have some pretty good friends that I share a room with to do that for me." She smiled at Nightwing. Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Robin, and Kid Flash just looked at one another with strange expressions.

"So where the heck is the training room?" Robin finally asked.

"I'll show you," said a voice. Turning around, the sidekicks found Superman coming toward them. It seemed, yet again, that he would be their guide. The only difference was that this time, the Flash was with him. Both were smiling.

"So, are you guys ready?" asked Flash. "I know, it might seem tough for you guys to have to deal with all the training, but it'll be fun. Plus, there are a few other sidekicks that'll be in the training room."

"The only problem any of you will be facing is the difficulty of the simulation," Superman said. "I would normally start with the normal setting, but knowing Batman, if he is part of the simulation, he'll place the setting at the hardest level. But I'll try to make sure that won't happen. At least, not today."

"What are the simulations like, exactly?" Nightwing asked.

"It depends," said Superman. "There is one that resembles a post-apocalyptic world, and even on the easy setting, that simulation is hard. I was hit at least a few times, and unfortunately, we programmed that simulation to have a robot with Kryptonite." He stopped walking and turned to Supergirl. "I'll try to make sure that we don't use that part of the simulation if we use that setting. I know you're more susceptible to the radiation, so don't worry, Kara." He smiled at her.

"It's okay," Supergirl said. "It's supposed to be like a real-world situation. As long as I have my friends to help me, I think I'll be fine. You can bring on the robot to fight me. Wait, does it look like Metallo?"

"Somewhat," was the reply.

"Are there any simulations that resemble our home cities or hometowns? Or wherever we come from?" Cassie asked. "Like, as an example, Themyscira. It's where Wonder Woman is from."

"Yeah, we've got a simulation for all those places," said Flash. "Gotham, Metropolis, Themyscira…heck, we've even got Atlantis and Mars! We were able to get some good looks at those locations thanks to the respective member, such as Batman for Gotham, Aquaman for Atlantis, and the Martian Manhunter for Mars. It's amazing, what we're able to do. It seems that nowadays, technology is endless."

As they finished their conversation, they found themselves near the control room. The doors opened, and the girls and boys saw Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman staring at them.

"Hello," Wonder Woman greeted. "It is good to see you all again." She smiled. "I want you to meet a few people before we begin training." She looked to her right and beckoned to a few people.

Soon an archer wearing red with a bow and a quiver full of arrows appeared, followed by a black-skinned young man wearing a red shirt and black pants. He was shoeless. Soon behind them came the infamous superheroes Green Arrow and Aquaman. "These are Red Arrow and Aqualad. They were inducted as trainees about a week before you six arrived, and they will be your training partners during your sessions." Both Red Arrow and Aqualad waved, welcoming the new trainees. "Do you have any questions to ask now?"

None of the trainees raised their hands or attempted to ask a question, something that seemed to surprise Wonder Woman. She looked at Wonder Girl strangely, and then turned to Batman. "Would you like to take over from here?" she asked.

Batman steppped forward. "Follow me," he said in his normal gruff tone. He said nothing more after that, leading to Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin to share glances. They were wondering what would happen next for them now that they were in his company.

"Wait, I do have a question now," Nightwing said. "What will be our difficulty level for our upcoming simulation?"

"It depends," Batman replied. "I would use the normal difficulty level we used for our training sessions in the Batcave, but I don't know what Superman or Wonder Woman might want."

Oh dear, this might not end well, Batgirl thought to herself.

Soon enough they found themselves in a large, circular room filled with robotic dummies. The trainees guessed they would become their opponents in the simulations. Looking up, the trainees found a glass window where the other central Justice League members were staring at them.

"You will begin your training now," Batman said. And then he walked away.

As he appeared in the upper area behind the glass, the trainees heard the voice of Superman start speaking.

"You will be starting off in Metropolis," he said. "This will be against one of my enemies, Brainiac. He once tried to take over the city using an army of robots. This will become difficult, even in the normal setting, which is what we'll start out with. Be careful, and try not to be knocked out. It could become dangerous if that happens. But I'm sure it won't. Good luck."

"Well, this sounds like it'll be fun," said Red Arrow in a deep voice.

"Hopefully, it won't be too hard," said Wonder Girl. "I'm not as used to some of this as the rest of you guys might be."

"Don't worry," said Supergirl. "We'll get through this, so long as we stick together and fight as one. Superman told me that once."

As they finished speaking, silence fell over the trainees.

And then the simulation began.

The robots came out of nowhere, and although she wasn't ready, Batgirl whipped out a few batarangs and threw them at the machines. They met their mark, and the machines instantly powered down, sparks flying everywhere from their broken skulls.

Looking around her, she found the "sky" was red, and all around her, besides the robots and her teammates, was fire. She guessed it was either to stop them from running out of the simulation, or that was what had been there during the original fight.

"Batgirl, watch out!" Supergirl called from above her.

Batgirl whirled around and found a robot about to punch her. She dodged, using the moves she'd learned from her training from Batman. The robot missed, and she kicked it hard in the head. The head went flying off, and Batgirl smiled.

Meanwhile, Nightwing fought alongside Robin and Kid Flash. All three of them were having trouble, even though Kid Flash had his superspeed, which normally protected him from trouble.

"This is not going good, and we just go into this simulation!" Robin said. He sent a batarang into a robot's chest, but it did not stop the machine.

Nightwing helped him by kicking the batarang harder into the machine's chest, ending it. He looked to Robin and winked. He saw Kid Flash looking around, and suddenly found a whole group of robots standing behind him. His eyes widened as he saw this.

"Oh God," he said, and Kid Flash whirled around. He went into superspeed, taking out a few of the machines. But then one of them, one that was larger than all the rest, pounded the ground, sending out a shockwave all around them.

Kid Flash was hit by the shockwave and went flying into a car. Nightwing attempted to jump over the shockwave, but to no avail. Robin, however, was successful in doing so. As he hit the ground, Nightwing saw Batgirl jump over the shockwave, as well as Aqualad and Red Arrow. Supergirl and Wonder Girl were both flying. Nightwing began getting back to his feet, and then realized what he'd thought, and looked again. Wonder Girl was flying. He hadn't known that to be one of her abilities. He blinked once, and then went back to fighting.

As she flew, Supergirl punched one of the robots in the chest, breaking through the whole central system. As she removed her arm, the machine went flying to the ground. She looked down and saw Batgirl, still fighting as hard as she could. She looked to Wonder Girl, who was doing pretty well against the machines. She wanted to make sure her friends did well against the Brainiac robots.

She heard a huge explosion behind her, and turned to see their enemy, Brainiac. She knew this wasn't how the original fight had gone. She'd only been in the very end of it, but she'd been in it nonetheless. Brainiac had not been on the street, but rather on his ship in the sky. She guessed this was for the trainees to work together and take down their enemy on the ground. She respected that.

But the robot enemies did not stop coming.

"This is going to get difficult," Supergirl said to herself. She looked to Wonder Girl and saw she was cornered by a group of three machines. Supergirl hurried over to them and used her heat vision on one of them, then punched through the other. The third, however, was taken out by Wonder Girl. Supergirl blinked once, and the robot's head was gone. She looked to Wonder Girl, who just smiled at her.

"I have super strength, too," she said. And then she looked down at Brainiac. The android was just watching them. The superheroines flew down to Batgirl's side. Nightwing, Robin, and Kid Flash joined them, and then later Aqualad and Red Arrow. Red Arrow nocked one of his arrows and aimed it at Brainiac.

"Should I shoot him now?" he asked.

"No, it won't do any damage," Supergirl said. "I was in this battle back when it was happening, so I know how to stop it, but I needed help from Superman at the time to actually take him down."

"You've got us," Batgirl told her. "Let's take him down together. Maybe then we can finish this."

Supergirl looked to her, smiled, and nodded.

"All right," she said. "I want you and Nightwing to go behind him. I'll go to his left, along with Kid Flash, and Red Arrow, you, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl go to his right. We need to hit him from all sides, and see if we can distract him. If we catch him off-guard, then we can finish this whole thing easily."

The trainees did as they were told, and hurried to their respective spots. Batgirl and Nightwing armed explosive batarangs and aimed them at Brainiac. Supergirl prepared her heat vision, Kid Flash prepared to run as fast as he could, and Wonder Girl decided to use as much strength as she had. Red Arrow nocked an explosive arrow, Robin prepared a sonic batarang, and Aqualad prepared his water-bearers. They turned into hard-water daggers as he touched them.

"Hit him, now!" Supergirl ordered, and the trainees did so. The explosive batarangs and arrow stuck into Brainiac's skin, and when they went off, the android groaned in deep pain. Kid Flash ran around him real quick, punching and kicking as hard as he could. Supergirl noticed something was different with Brainiac as he was punched: he actually felt the pain.

As Aqualad slashed down, some of Brainiac's armor came off. Wonder Girl punched with all her strong and took more of the armor off. Robin stuck the sonic batarang into Brainiac and attempted to detonate it.

But then Brainiac slammed the ground and knocked all the trainees off their feet. Supergirl saw the sonic batarang and realized it would be like an EMP to the android. She smiled.

"Use your sonic batarangs on him!" she told Batgirl and Nightwing. She turned to Red Arrow. "Use an arrow like that, okay?"

"Got it," he said.

Brainiac attempted to punch each trainee, and each of them dodged. The sonic batarangs and arrow met their mark, and once the three sonic batarangs and one sonic arrow were detonated, Brainiac fell to his knees, and then suddenly disappeared.

And the simulation was over.

The trainees saw the training room return to its normal state, and then looked up at where the central Justice League members were looking down on them.

Soon a voice came over an intercom.

"Please come and see us up here," said Wonder Woman.

The trainees looked at one another, and shrugged. They saw the stairs leading up to the room and began making their way.

"You did great," Supergirl told Batgirl.

"You did better than I did," Batgirl told her. "You're a natural-born leader. If we were a team, you would be the leader, to be honest."

"It's true," said Red Arrow. "I normally don't give out compliments like that, but you seemed to know what you were doing."

"I sort of had some experience in that situation," Supergirl admitted.

"That doesn't matter," Aqualad told her. "All that matters is that you know what you're doing, and you know what you're focused on. Right now, the only thing I'm focused on is becoming a full-fledged member of the Justice League."

Supergirl smiled.

Batgirl looked over to Robin and Nightwing, who smiled at her. Batgirl could have sworn she saw Nightwing wink at her.

Then she looked at Wonder Girl. She seemed to be quite happy with herself, and Batgirl understood exactly why that was. She'd done so well, and she deserved to have a spot on the Justice League. So did Supergirl.

But she, for some reason, didn't know if she was ready for it.

They entered the room where the central members stood. They were all watching them intently, and when she saw Batman's gaze, Batgirl felt a little scared.

And then finally, "Well done."

When she heard the words fly out of Batman's mouth, her jaw nearly dropped open. Batgirl couldn't believe what she had just heard. It didn't seem like something he would normally say.

"You all did real well," Superman said. "I think you're perfect candidates for becoming members of the Justice League. The one thing I should probably tell you all is that your fight with Brainiac isn't how most villains will be in the real world. Most of them will fight back hard, and that can make them very dangerous."

"But you should remember all you learned here today," Wonder Woman said. "You used teamwork, and that's something that truly matters in those kinds of situations." She looked over to Batman, expecting him to say something.

However, he did not. He didn't even open his mouth.

Batgirl had been expecting as much. But she believed she'd done quite well in the training session. She wanted to become a member of the Justice League, and she hoped he would stop her from doing so.

"So what do we do now?" she finally asked.

"You can all go back to your rooms for now and rest," said Superman. "We'll go back to training tomorrow. I know, we just had a training session, but we need to try it some more before you become true members of the Justice League. Do you understand?"

Before the trainees could answer, a female superhero burst into the room. She wore a leather jacket with fishnet stockings.

"What is it, Black Canary?" Green Arrow asked.

"It has to do with the whole Justice League," she said. "We've been threatened."