Heh, nope, this did not take me months to come back to. No way. Just saying, the pronouns are super inconsistent, but while writing, I like to keep it in a character's perspective, so it's a wonder that Dick is able to remember 'she' pronouns at all! I'm trying to make so that Dick slips back into 'he' when he/she does self-reflecting.

I don't own YJ!

Dick growled. "Bats, come back here! You do not-!" He-she knew it was pointless. Bruce was trying to help, in his own unique way. I swear, if this all goes downhill, I'm blaming you. She huffed, pouting and crossing her arms.

"Wally," Artemis warned, "do not tick this girl off. She can be worse than me, pretty sure. As your teammate, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to not want you to die." Dick smirked.

"Don't worry, babe," Wally said, zooming over to her side. "I can be very nice."

Dick shoved her best friend away. He was being a colossal idiot. She could see why Artemis hated him so much. "I think there was supposed to be a flirt in there, so shove off, pervert."

The acrobat noticed Conner narrow his eyes. Hmm. "Don't," the clone forced out and walked away.

"That was… strange," Dick said to Artemis. Artemis was officially his- her new best bud.

Artemis paused in thought. "Well, no offense, you're small. I think Superboy - Conner - over there wants to protect you." That makes sense, she conceded, though it didn't stop the spike of anger that rushed through her. I can handle myself.

M'gann hesitantly floated up to hi- her! "Hello there," she introduced. "I'm Miss Martian, and my Martian name is M'gann, but you can call me an Earth name, Megan. Don't mind Conner and Wally. Wally does that to most girls and Conner isn't really… the best with speaking."

Dick held out her hand. She suppressed certain thoughts. "Yeah, I got that," Dick bluntly replied. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Aishe."

"Do you have any powers?" M'gann asked, shaking the outstretched hand firmly.

"Nah," Dick answered. "Not really my thing. But-" She pressed a button on her suit and reappeared behind M'gann. "My suit is a beautiful weapon."

The Martian's eyes widened. "Wow, that was amazing. How did you-?"

"Xenothium. It's an energy source that lets me work in cool features like that," Aishe elaborated, remembering that M'gann probably didn't know what xenothium was.

M'gann cleared her throat and smiled. "Well, welcome to the Team."

"Thanks." Don't think, don't think…

"Well, I'll see you later?" A timer rang. "My cookies!" She flew away quickly. Dick prayed they wouldn't be burnt.

Dick mentally sighed in relief. It was difficult, having to make sure she- he- she mentally referred to herself correctly, in case M'gann was listening in.

Kaldur approached her. "Hello. My name is Kaldur'ahm. I am an Atlantean."

"Nice gills," she remarked and grinned. She could say to her teammates things she normally wouldn't as Robin! Yes!

"I, uh, thank you?" Kaldur looked confused. Operation: Troll the Team is a go.

She put a finger on her chin, a classic thinking position. "You're pretty cute, Saltwater." She turned her back. Inside, she was thinking, Blegh, this is my team leader and friend that I have no romantic interest in. Outwardly, she was trying not to cackle at the perplexed and panicked expression Kaldur held.

Strutting away, Artemis whispered, "Kaldur? Are you asking Kaldur out?"

"No." Dick rolled her eyes. "I just met the dude, my standards aren't that low. Just messing with him."

The archer laughed. "Batman chose a good replacement. You can act just like Robin."

"Compliment or insult?" she asked, genuinely wondering what Robin acted like in her teammate's eyes.

Artemis pursed her lips. "Compliment, I guess. I like the guy, and we could be great friends, but he hangs out with Wally most of the time. It's not even his identity, I have my secrets too, but I'm not willing to start another argument with Baywatch just so I can interact with the Bat's partner. Besides, if he picked up any trait of his mentor's, I bet he'd be a little standoffish."

Dick was surprised. Had he missed out on a chance to bond with his teammates because of the amount of time he devoted to Wally? He didn't think that they did that much together. And 'standoffish'? "Hmm, I'll keep that in mind."

"So," Artemis said, reaching her room, "we don't have any missions today. Do you want to team up?"

"Team up as in pranks galore? Yes, please!" Dick spun around, covering him- herself in shadow. "BOO!"

Artemis yelped. "Don't scare me like that. It's creepy - Batman and Robin can disappear like that, and now you?"

Dick shrugged. "You have to learn how to survive in Crime Alley," she fibbed, making up an excuse for her lack of impulse control. "And I very rarely get a moment to rest. I have my fun when I can. I trust you understand?"

"...Yes," Artemis muttered quietly. "I understand perfectly." Dick sobered up. Artemis' heritage… What if, instead of using this opportunity to fool around, he could help out his teammates? They were reluctant to admit anything to Aunt Dinah, but a temporary newcomer? What if they opened up?

Dick purposefully chose to ignore the foreboding in the remark for now. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Have been since birth." They high fived and split up.

"To kill or keep?" Dick wondered, staring at the bound Wally glaring at the both of them. It wasn't really a question, but she had to keep in character. "Mmm, keep. Keep sounds fun."

Artemis chuckled ominously. "Oh, do I have ideas for this."

"As do I." Dick ripped off the gag. "Wally, why do you hate Artemis so much?"

The archer and speedster turned to look at her, surprised. Not what they were expecting at all. "I, uh, she's an annoying harpy," Wally replied, flustered.

"Care to elaborate?"

"She's been out for me since the moment we laid eyes on each other. Enemies at first sight." Wally scowled. "She keeps arguing, that bi-"

"I'm still here," Artemis remarked, leaning against a wall.

Dick smirked. "And why do you hate him so much?"

"He's, he's an idiot! Baywatch is someone who is just so stupid and frustrating." Artemis was tensing up. "Like when he flirts with you and M'gann! It's- ugh, he's terrible."

"Is that it, both of you?"

Wally glowered. "I could find more synonyms for annoying harpy."

"Ditto, but with incessant, pervert chatterbox."

Dick crossed her arms. "Then that's it. Have fun being locked in here for an hour!" She teleported the heck outta there and hacked into the systems with her silver gauntlets.

"Room is on lockdown."

"And now I wait." She hoped this would work. If not, he had just gotten two teammates ticked off at each other and with her.

Dick was jumping around in the rafters to pass the time. She sang under her breath a bit. "Say what you need to say. You say, you will not let your fear get in the way…" Artemis and Wally actually seemed to be softening up. She was praying that the ice would be completely broken soon.

She heard heavy footsteps. Supers were never the stealthiest heroes. "That's not safe, you need to get down," Conner called.

Dick scowled. "I'm fine."

"It's too high."

She spread out her fingers and pushed a button on her wrist. This caused a grapple hook to shoot out and wrap itself on the beam. Using that, she lowered herself down with more caution than she would normally use as Robin. "Satisfied?" Conner grunted. "I'm not helpless, y'know."

"You're small, human, vulnerable-"

"And a girl," Dick finished. "That was what you were going to say, wasn't it? I'm not a maiden in need of defending, Superboy, I'm trained. I can handle myself easily."

Conner's eyes still judged Dick's shorter stature (she was so going to put Poison Ivy in a body cast). "But-"

"But nothing," Dick cut off harshly. "You don't treat Robin like this, right?"

"But Robin's Batman's protege."

Dick snarled. "You don't need to be Batman's protege to do any good in the world." Was that seriously all he counted for? "You don't need Bat training to be good. You don't need speed, flight, invulnerability, telepathy, you just need the will to get. It. Done."

Conner looked at Dick wryly. "You- you and Robin. You're both so tiny. If I wasn't careful, I could crush you."

"But you won't," Dick said firmly. How did he- she get into another one of these? "You won't lose control."

"How do you know?"

Dick jabbed her finger into Conner's chest. "Sure, you're strong, but you don't want to hurt anyone. If you want it, you can do it. You want to not hurt anyone? Focus on control and finesse exercises. I recommend juggling."

"Sounds like you have experience," Conner remarked.

Dick snorted. "Me? Please. All I do is control my body so I can bend it certain ways and sneak up on people, control my suit so I can use all these things, and control code so I can hack. Yeah, I totally don't have experience with controlling anything."

"...I can work on the juggling."

Dick stuck her thumb up. "Nice, Supey."

A waft of freshly baked chocolate smell made its way to Dick's nose. "Mmmm…" M'gann had made cookies earlier, but brownies as well? That presumably weren't burnt? She cartwheeled to the kitchen, mainly following her nose.

As expected, M'gann was there, with oven mitts and frantically blowing. Dick grinned. "Whatcha got there? Brownies?"

M'gann spun around. "Aishe! Hi. Yes, these are brownies." She shrugged. "I wanted to try something that's not cookies for once. But-" she hissed, "-they're very hot. And sticky."

Dick laughed. "Yeah, brownies can be that way. Very sticky. Can I try?"

"O-oh, sure!" M'gann exclaimed, surprised. "But…"

"But?"

M'gann looked sheepish. "I usually burn the cookies. No one but Wally eat those. And Wally just wants to get my attention."

Dick projected a small, reassuring feeling, knowing that M'gann would catch that more easily than facial expressions. Wait. With a start, she realized she had not taken off her skull-shaped helmet. "I'd love to try the brownies," Dick said, tossing her helmet off in one smooth motion. "I'm sure they're not that bad."

M'gann scrunched her nose. "I don't know. But are you okay?"

"...Yeah," Dick said reluctantly, suspiciously. "Why?"

The Martian's smile returned full force. "I'm not accusing you or anything, your emotions just seem… off."

What? "Off?" She made a small show of sniffing the brownie's scent. "Mmm… we can discuss this later. I gotta try this."

M'gann levitated a spoon over to her, and Dick stuck the spoon into the fudge-like brownie greedily. She ate it with a smile. "S' weawwy good!" she said, mouth full and sticking her thumbs up.

M'gann's smile suddenly seemed a bit more genuine. "Really? You think so?"

"Yeah! And trust me," Dick said, spooning another mouthful, "I don't hand out compliments easily."

"Thank you," the baker said, sweetly, sincerely. "I really appreciate it." She squealed. "I got a recipe right!" She cheered and whooped, doing flips in the air. Dick looked at her longingly, though also with a sense of pride.

On the logical, tactical, Batman side of him, he thought this would be good for overall team morale. M'gann was a cheerleader, in more ways than one. Having her happier would likely improve the mood of his teammates. His more emotional side… well, let's suffice to say that he was definitely getting kids one day. Or, if not, pester Bruce to adopt another orphan.

One hour was almost up. Dick leaned her ear close to the door and noticed the bickering was quiet, joking even. It worked. A bit unconventional, but it worked.

"Red X?"

Rahat. That rumbling baritone was definitely the voice of their leader, and Dick didn't know how he'd react to this. She plastered a smile on her face. "Yes, Kaldur? Also, call me Aishe."

"Aishe." There it was, a bit strained. Had Kaldur figured out what was going on already? Wait… Right, she'd messed around with him.

"You know I was joking with the whole 'cute' thing, right?" she blurted. "Because-"

Kaldur interrupted. "Yes, I understand that now." Kaldur's lips turned upwards. "It was quite the humorous jest." Phew. "If I may ask though… why are you standing in front of this door?"

Lie? Truth? Well, to them, she was the new girl on the team… so she'd have to do truth. Darn. "Wally and Artemis are… bonding in there."

The Atlanteans eyebrow shot up in surprise - well, if she was being honest, not that far, but it was a change from his usual expression nonetheless. "How did you get them to stay in there?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Imayormaynothavelockedtheminthere."

"Aishe," Kaldur said, Dick bracing herself for the reprimand, "thank you."

Dick's eyes felt like they were bulging out of her skull. "What? Seriously?"

"They would have never made the effort to get along otherwise," Kaldur explained. Well, he's not wrong. "Their bickering slows down the mission often. I believe even M'gann was getting frustrated with it. So if this works, the Team owes you a great debt."

"Please," Dick scoffed, trying to take her attention off the 'owes a great debt' part of the mini-speech, "I just did what anyone would do after a while."

"That may be, but none of us did," Kaldur pointed out. "I should have used force when I realized Wally and Artemis were not going to cooperate. I did not, as you can see."

Dick pursed her lips. "But you had other pressing matters, right? You come from Atlantis - family issues? Lost love?" Kaldur's brief wince told her that she was right.

"I am the leader of the Team, Aishe. It is my responsibility to ensure that Team relations are working." He sighed. "You have not been on this team for even a day, and yet, your actions prove you to be wise beyond your years. I am merely a placeholder until Robin is mature enough to take on the mantle."

"That's not true!" she protested. How did I never notice that Kaldur thought this way? "I'm sure you're a great leader! That, that - what's the word? - introspection is the mark of a good one! Do you think someone who was a terrible leader would ever look back on their mistakes?"

Kaldur chuckled. "As I had said: you are wise beyond your years. Thank you for the comfort."

Dick grinned. "Always happy to be of service."

She unlocked the room. "Room is off lockdown."

Wally - obviously - burst out first, soon accompanied by a pissed off archer. "Why the hell, Aishe?!" she said, glaring. Dick noticed her hands were curled up into fists.

"You two needed to learn to get along," she stated bluntly. "Wally may be annoying, but even I can tell your arguing is distracting. And it worked, didn't it?"

Artemis and Wally… glared wouldn't be an appropriate word for this, cast scathing looks? Cast scathing looks at each other, then softened them. "It did," they mumbled.

"Told ya." Dick grinned. Success.

Bruce's voice came over the intercom. "Team, report to the mission room immediately."

*deep sigh* Oi… (And no, I'm not British or Australian, I just used to go to an international school and picked it up) I will say it: I don't like this chapter. It feels rushed and cheesy to me, and goodness knows I'm not a Kaldur or M'gann writer. Conner was only slightly easier. The Wally and Artemis thing… *another deep sigh*

Sorry it's taken me a while to update. From the one or two followers I have, I've been told to update quicker, but… life gets in the way. School is not going great, home is not going great… I've barely found time to write.

To that one guy who commented something like, "YES! TALON!DICK!" I would like to inform you that it will be an entirely different story, not on this one. But who knows? I might someday.

Please R&R!