"You willingly and deliberately placed a civilian in danger, what the hell were you thinking Sergeant!?" General Anderson shouted. He had personally accompanied the docs that had patched Barbara up and to say he was pissed would be an understatement.

"I should have you busted down to a Private and sent to the brig for this!" He continued as Alex just stood at the position of attention and took it.

"Aye Sir."

"You're lucky she'll pull through, otherwise I'd replace you and have you sent to Leavenworth."

"Aye Sir."

"You've been doing good so far Sergeant and then you have to go and disappoint me like this. I get that she offered to help but she's not a part of this operation, and now she and her friends know about what we're doing. Do you have any idea what could happen if they leaked this to the public?"

"Yes Sir, but I don't believe they would. Believe me Sir I wouldn't have asked for help if I didn't have full trust and confidence in them." Alex explained, hoping the General would see that he'd meant well. He seemed to have cooled off a bit after shouting and he just shook his head and sighed.

"I do trust you Sergeant, it's them I concerned about. We know next to nothing about them and they know who we are. Understand that this is a serious breach of national security, luckily only those of us in this room know about it, otherwise all of our heads would roll."

"Ahem." They both turned to see Barbara standing in the doorway to Alex's room, still dressed in her armor but with a more secure bandage on her neck. They had all been relieved when the docs told them that her carotid artery was intact, the bullet had just barely grazed it resulting in the steady flow of blood she experienced last night. After a minor surgery, she had been patched up but was warned not to engage in any rapid neck movement until she was fully healed.

"I understand your concern General, but we're on the same side. I helped Sergeant Westbrook of my own free will and I don't believe he should be punished for my actions." She told the General.

"I understand that you were just trying to help miss Gordon, but the second you did so you became Sergeant Westbrook's responsibility and as a Sergeant he should know better than to involve you in matters that could potentially compromise national security. However, you have proven to me that the two of you work well together and you did come to his aid without hesitation. Taking these into account, I will not punish Sergeant Westbrook."

"Thank you, Sir. You don't…"

"That does not mean that I can officially allow you to continue working with him, however I cannot deny the appeal of having you on our team. That being said I will allow you to continue helping us, but you are not to report any of our operations to your friends and in the event of future injury or death we disavow all knowledge of you, understand?"

"Yes Sir, you won't regret this."

"I hope so, for all our sake's. Now I need a full debrief on what went on down in those sewers, who were those men that took him from us?" He asked, directing the question at Alex.

"They were dressed in black fatigues, had access to military grade arms and munitions, and executed military tactics. If I had to guess they would be ex-military, most likely PMC's." He answered, giving as best a description as he could.

"That seems likely, but who are they working for, and why go after Croc?" The General asked, more to himself than them as he paced the room in thought.

"There was an idea pitched sometime back to capture some of America's worst super villains and force them to work for us in a similar manner to what you're doing know. Obviously, the idea was shot down, why waste time and resources capturing these criminals when we have operatives such as yourself that are already qualified for that type of work? Anyways our man Croc was on the proposed roster for this team, along with your friend Dr. Quinzel and a few more of Gotham's rogues." He revealed and they wondered who in their right mind would think that would be a great idea.

"So you think someone may be trying to start it up again? Who originated it?" Barbara asked.

"It was proposed by Amanda Waller, she works for the CIA but was transferred to the Belle Reve penitentiary after her request was denied about three years ago."

"Never heard of either of those Sir."

"I'm not surprised Sergeant, however Belle Reve is where we've sent your friends Ivanovsky and Two-face. The facility doesn't officially exist but it house's the worst criminals. Waller runs the facility with a private army on the CIA's payroll, however they're not authorized to operate outside the facilities grounds."

"That's too much of a coincidence, it's gotta by her. We should investigate this Belle Reve and find out what's going on." Alex proposed but the General just shook his head.

"It definitely sounds like Waller and her PMC's but we'd have noticed any unusual activity out of Belle Reve if it was her. It's possible someone else heard about Waller's proposition and is starting up their own thing."

"So, what about Croc, do we just let whoever hired those PMC's hang on to him?" Alex asked, not wanting to leave any loose ends.

"I'll work on finding out who took him back at the Pentagon, for now just focus on your primary objective. Keep up the good work Sergeant, Miss Gordon it was a pleasure to meet you and don't worry, your identity isn't leaving this room. I'll contact you when I have another mission Sergeant." He said before leaving with the docs he had brought, leaving Alex and Barbara alone in the apartment.

An awkward silence passed between them until Alex finally spoke.

"What the hell man? I've been hanging around with Batgirl this whole time!?" He exclaimed. This whole thing had him feeling really stupid about himself. he was by no means a genius but he should have caught on to this sooner, looking back on all the times they'd been around each other it seems so obvious!

"You say that like it's a bad thing." She says and Alex then realized that it sounds like he's complaining.

"It's not, but damn it how didn't I realize sooner? I'm a fucking idiot!"

"You're not stupid, you know I couldn't tell you."

"Yeah but you knew who I was the whole time."

"That didn't change anything, did it? We're still friends, aren't we?"

"I guess, but I really feel like I've been played again."

"Don't, my friendship is genuine and I want to keep it that way. Besides would you have told me what you're up to if I hadn't known already?" She challenged, knowing how he'd respond.

"Ugh, you got me there. Guess we played each other huh? I suppose it's better that everything's out in the open now, no more having to sneak around each other."

"Exactly, we'll make a better team now."

"Your right, I really shouldn't be making a big deal out of this. Your Batgirl and that's fine, just gonna take some getting used to is all."

"Understandable, are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good. Now how about we go and do something that doesn't involve getting yelled at by my superior."

"Can't really do much until this heals though." She said, pointing to the bandage on her neck.

"Ah, right. Your dad's going to fucking kill me…"

…Mission Complete…